North Carolina continued its decade-long dominance of Duke, sweeping a three-game series at Jack Coombs Field over the weekend.
The Blue Devils (14-33, 6-18 in the ACC) dropped the series opener, 8-4, Friday, with No. 1 UNC (39-8, 18-6) putting the game away with three runs in the final three innings.
Before giving up the late runs, Duke had put itself in position to win by roughing up Tar Heel ace Andrew Miller (10-0) for four runs on 12 hits in just six innings. Miller, a consensus top-five pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, hadn't allowed more than nine hits in a game this season.
"We had a good plan," manager Sean McNally said. "He's a good pitcher, but we found some holes. We stayed short and didn't expand the strike zone."
Duke starting pitcher Jim Perry, subbing for ace Danny Otero-out with elbow tenderness-allowed five runs in six innings.
Sunday, the Blue Devils went up against Daniel Bard, another potential first-round draft pick from the Carolina rotation. Bard entered the game with a 16-inning scoreless streak, which he extended to 19 before Jonathan Nicolla's two-out bloop single to right scored Javier Socorro and tied the game at one.
Duke managed to keep the game close, behind 2-1 heading into the eighth, but again the Tar Heels came on late to put the game away, 7-1.
UNC shortstop Josh Horton, hitting .401 to lead the ACC, crushed a home run in the eighth to push the lead to 3-1.
"That was an element that they had that we didn't-they hit a bunch of balls out of the ballpark," McNally said. "Horton's was a separator at 2-1. We had a chance to get out of that inning."
Three singles, a balk and a two-run error by Murray allowed Carolina to cross the plate four times in the final inning, providing the inflated final score in the series' final game.
Duke lost Saturday, 8-2, with North Carolina's Chad Flack's two home runs and 4 RBI putting the game out of reach.
"It's one thing to compete in those games and it's another one to win those," McNally said. "The bottom line is we scored seven runs in three games. Getting a timely hit here or there would have helped."
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