Duke and North Carolina got started on their three-game series early this weekend and played a rubber match that went five extra innings.
The Tar Heels squeezed out the series win.
Duke (21-12, 8-7 ACC) dropped the first and third games of the series, both one-run games, with the latter being a 14-inning heartbreaker on Saturday night.
“I am exhausted, and I can only imagine how our guys feel. They laid their guts out there on the field,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said after the series finale. “There were some things that we could have done in the execution, but I am very proud of our fight and the competitive spirit they had today to battle these guys for 14 innings.”
Here are quick recaps of each game from this past weekend:
UNC 4, Duke 3
On Thursday night, Duke loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth inning and got one run in, but a game-ending double play ended the Blue Devils’ comeback hopes.
In order, it went dropped-third-strike, walk and hit-by-pitch for Duke in the ninth. Andrew Yu hit into a fielder’s choice that pressed across one run, and set up runners at the corners with one out. AJ Gracia hit into the 6-3 double play that ended the game.
Duke’s only lead of this game was in the fourth, when Tyler Albright’s two-run home run made it a 2-1 game. The Blue Devils didn’t make it through the end of the inning with the lead, as UNC’s Jackson Van De Brake hit a two-run homer in the bottom half.
UNC’s insurance run in the eighth, which wound up being the difference in the score, scored on a two-out error by second baseman Jake Berger.
Owen Proksch gave up three runs in his four-inning start. Reid Easterly followed him with three scoreless innings; the unearned run late in the game was charged to Ryan Higgins.
Duke 9, UNC 5
On Friday night, Duke scored in six of seven innings, starting with the second, to even the series.
Ben Miller was 3-for-5 with a couple of solo homers that accounted for Duke’s last two runs. Yu had Duke’s only other homer, also a solo shot.
Macon Winslow went 3-for-5 with two RBI, driving in Duke’s first run after UNC took a two-run lead in the first inning. Gracia, Albright and Yu each had two-hit games, while Ben Rounds had a two-RBI game.
Andrew Healy pitched four innings, allowing all five of UNC’s runs (three were earned). He only gave up three hits, but also surrendered three walks.
Kyle Johnson for one inning, and then Gabe Nard and James Tallon for two innings each, combined for five shutout innings out of Duke’s bullpen. Nard (5-1) earned the decision for his two innings, in which he allowed one hit and one walk with four strikeouts.
Tallon got the save by retiring the last six UNC batters in order, four of them via strikeout.
