CHAPEL HILL—The Blue Devils spent the first two games of their series against the rival Tar Heels sputtering at the plate and leaving runners stranded in scoring position.
In the series finale, Duke was finally able to come up in the clutch at the plate.
After dropping Friday and Saturday’s contests to No. 20 North Carolina by a combined score of 14-3, the Blue Devils managed to salvage one game from the series, grabbing a 9-2 victory Sunday at Boshamer Stadium. The bottom of the order provided the majority of the damage for Duke as the six, seven and eight batters drove in all eight runs.
“It was a gradual progression from Friday to today,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “We did not have a good approach at all Friday, and yesterday our approach improved, but we didn’t have a lot to show for it. We hit some balls really hard with runners on yesterday, they just didn’t find holes and today—and this is kind of baseball—every ball we hit found a hole.”
In the loss Saturday, the Blue Devils left 11 men stranded and had multiple opportunities with two outs and runners in scoring position to try and claw their way back into the game.
Sunday, Duke (11-3, 1-2 in the ACC) scored its first six runs during two-out rallies and ended up leaving just six men on base.
Third baseman Jack Labosky smacked a single up the middle with one out in the top of the second but the following batter, right fielder Peter Zyla, grounded into a fielder’s choice moving Labosky to second at the cost of a precious out. That left the job of bringing the runner home and doing what the Blue Devils had not been able to do in days to co-captain Mike Rosenfeld.
And the senior answered the bell.
Rosenfeld knocked an RBI single up the middle to bring Labosky home and promptly advanced to second during the next at-bat when North Carolina catcher Korey Dunbar allowed a pass ball with first baseman Justin Bellinger at the plate. On the next pitch, the freshman brought Rosenfeld home with a single to right field for the first of a career-high five RBIs.
By the end of the inning, Duke held a 2-0 lead and followed up a strong second inning with a stronger third inning for good measure.
The inning began much like the previous one with an out, a single and another out for the Blue Devils—but today, having two outs already accounted for didn’t faze the offense.
With center fielder Evan Dougherty on first, Labosky walked and Zyla came to the plate looking to recreate some of the two-out magic from the previous inning. After Dunbar permitted another pass ball to allow Dougherty and Labosky to advance to second and third, Zyla knocked the ninth pitch of the at-bat into the right-center field gap, splitting the outfielders and bringing both Dougherty and Labosky home.
Two batters and a Rosenfeld stolen base later, Bellinger doubled down the left field line to bring both runners home and give Duke a commanding 6-1 lead.
“The first two days it was hard coming out here and playing against our rivals and losing,” Bellinger said. “We had to step up [Sunday] and make the best of it and give whatever is left in the tank. That’s what I did out there, just gave all I got.”
Sophomore Bailey Clark turned in another impressive performance in only the fourth start of his career. The Asheville, N.C., native tossed eight innings of work allowing just one earned run, four hits and three walks while striking out six Tar Heels.
Clark has thrown at least seven innings in each of his last three starts and has yet to allow more than two earned runs.
Lefty Nick Hendrix came in to finish the job in the ninth and tossed a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two.
North Carolina (10-4, 2-1) had chances to attempt a comeback but—much like the Blue Devils in the first two contests—could not string enough hits together to get the job done.
Down just 2-0, it appeared as if the Tar Heels would be able to take control after receiving some help.
Second baseman Alex Raburn led off the inning by dribbling a ball to shortstop Kenny Koplove. With a barehanded play and a strong throw to first, it appeared that Koplove got Raburn by half a step, but first base umpire Darren Spagnardi called him safe, sparking an argument with Pollard.
With still no one out, the Blue Devils committed three errors—all in the infield—to allow North Carolina to narrow the score to 2-1 and have runners on first and second with zero outs. Fortunately for Duke, Clark was able to shoulder the load and retired the next three batters in order without giving up another run.
“I grew up a Carolina fan so this game meant a lot to me,” Clark said. “It’s pretty special to come out here and do what I did.”
The Blue Devils will look to continue the hot hitting Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Yale at Jack Coombs Field.
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