North Carolina, the No. 19 ranked team in college baseball on D1 Baseball, went into this weekend's baseball series against archrival Duke with a 22-7 record overall and a 6-6 record against teams in the ACC. North Carolina dominated the first game, followed by a decisive loss in the second game, and capstone with a 14-inning classic to decide the winner of game three. The Tar Heels walked it off to win another series.
In its previous four conference series, the Tar Heels lost two of three games to Stanford and two of three games to Louisville before winning two of three games against Miami and Boston College.
The Blue Devils came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and took the field at Boshamer Stadium with a 20-10 record and a 7-5 record against teams in the ACC. They beat NC State in their last three-game series, two games to one.
Let's take a look at how the three-game unfolded.
Game 1 - North Carolina 4, Duke 3
Jake Knapp got the start for the Tar Heels in the first game, pitching 7.0 innings allowing just one run on four hits with two strikeouts. He handed the ball to Ryan Lynch and Walker McDuffie to finish the game. Combined, the two threw two innings without any earned runs.
Jackson Van DE Brake blasted his first homer in this game with another two RBIs. Kane Kepley also contributed offensively with his third RBI of the season.
Game 2 - Duke 9, North Carolina 5
Duke's Andrew Healy started the game and gave up all three earned runs to North Carolina in the first four innings. Van De Brake had a two-run RBI double in the first inning to take the lead, but Duke battled back to tie the game and take the lead in the third inning. Ben Miller hit his second home run of the season while Andrew Yu knocked his first of the year out of the park.
Duke's Kyle Johnson, Gabe Nard, and James Tallon finished the final five innings without any earned runs and eight total strikeouts.
Game 3 - North Carolina 8, Duke 7 (F/14)
The Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead with more first-inning RBIs. By the end of the fourth inning, Duke was back up 4-3. North Carolina went on to score four runs in the next four innings to take the lead, 7-4, before allowing Duke three runs in the top of the ninth. As the game went to extras, it took five more innings to finally get a walk-off unearned run as Bass reached the plate.
Luke Stevenson homered in the win with two RBIs. Three other players had at least one RBI. A combination of seven total pitchers made the game work with Folger Boaz picking up his second win of the season.
North Carolina will head on the road, though in-state, to Elon for a single game on Tuesday night, April 8th.
