CHAPEL HILL – Of course it was going to be close.
No matter the sport, stakes or season, a Duke-North Carolina game is going to be a good one. The archrivals squared off for a midseason three-game series in Chapel Hill, with the 19th-ranked hosts looking to defend their turf. They successfully did, but the Blue Devils forced a 14-inning ballgame before falling 8-7.
Duke (21-12, 8-7 in the ACC) dropped the first matchup Thursday 4-3, with Tar Heel ace Jake Knapp twirling a seven-inning, four-hit gem. Head coach Chris Pollard’s squad bounced back with a 9-5 victory Friday behind timely hitting from Macon Winslow and Ben Rounds and a pair of insurance home runs from star third baseman Ben Miller.
Splitting the first two games set the stage for Saturday afternoon’s matchup, with Henry Zatkowski set to take the mound for the Blue Devils, facing off against Aidan Haugh.
The Tar Heels had been leading for the majority of the contest, and the baby-blue clad fans roared all afternoon long in accordance. Their loudest explosion yet came in the top of the ninth — not in celebration, but relief.
Heading into the ninth inning, the home team held a 7-4 lead, and the visiting bats hadn’t generated any threats over the past five innings. However, with the lights at their brightest, Wallace Clark and Jake Berger were unfazed. Both drew tough walks, setting the stage for Miller. The Durham native sent a single into right field, loading the bases with no men out.
Jake Hyde stepped up to the plate, and hit Camron Seagraves’ offering on a frozen rope out to the right-field wall, sure to be a two-run double. However, a baserunning miscue from Pollard’s team led to only one man crossing the plate, and Hyde had to retreat to first base.
“If we don't make the baserunning mistake, maybe that inning plays out differently and we’re able to push that fourth run across,” Pollard said. “No guarantee on that, but that's certainly a possibility, so there's opportunities where you're going to look back in this game and go, ‘If we did this or if we did that, maybe the game didn't even need to go to extra innings.’”
In some situations, an error of this magnitude would be critical and likely cost the Blue Devils the game, but Tyler Albright and Rounds each brought a man home, tying the game. Andrew Yu wasn’t able to capitalize further, grounding into a double play to prompt the aforementioned explosion, but Duke did enough to extend the game.
Neither team got a man all 360 feet around the bases in their next chance, setting the stage for James Tallon. He issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 10th to Perry Hargett, then a second one out later to Sam Angelo. Pollard brought in Gabe Nard to attempt to wriggle out of the jam.
The junior got a popup from Kane Kepley before Jackson Van De Brake climbed into the batter's box. The senior second baseman came to the plate sporting a 4-for-5 line on the day and drew a full count. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, and with the game-winning run 90 feet away, Nard fanned Van De Brake to keep his team alive.
“What a job,” Pollard said of Nard’s gusty performance. “Gabe all weekend, he had a great outing yesterday. James Tallon looked terrific again today, and we knew it was going to be a short burst for both those guys, but Gabe comes in and gets us off the field.”
The Tar Heels brought in Tom Chmielewski after Seagraves gave Albright a leadoff walk, and a Rounds sacrifice bunt gave the visitors a man in scoring position with only one out in the top of the 12th inning. Yu's groundout advanced the left fielder to third, and Chmielewski intentionally walked AJ Gracia to put runners on the corners with two outs for Noah Murray. The pinch-hitter flew out to center, and the Blue Devils failed to capitalize on their best chance yet in extras.
In the top of the 14th, Duke threatened again. A Rounds single before a wild pitch gave the Blue Devils a man on second with no outs, and a Yu groundout moved the grad student to third. The Tar Heels opted to intentionally walk Gracia again, giving Adam Troch the opportunity to be a hero.
The freshman took a fastball to the leg, loading the bases for Clark. A chopper to first base gave the Tar Heels the opportunity for a forceout at the plate, and relief pitcher Folger Boaz got a Berger groundout to escape the 14th inning.
In the bottom of the inning, new pitcher Edward Hart walked Tyson Bass, who advanced to second on a Hargett groundout. Alex Madera chopped a grounder to Berger, and the second baseman misjudged its trajectory, causing it to bounce off his glove into center field.
Bass rounded third before coming home, and the crowd exploded one final time, this time in jubilation.
Five hours and fifteen minutes prior, Duke jumped on Haugh, who boasts a 1.67 ERA, with a leadoff walk from Clark and a single from Miller, but the talented righty escaped the threat by inducing a double-play ball from Hyde.
Zatkowski wasn’t as lucky in his half of the first. After striking out his first batter, Van De Brake knocked a single on a full count, before a Luke Stevenson bomb to left field gave the home team a quick 2-0 lead.
The backside of the Blue Devils’ lineup was due up for the second, but it isn't your typical group of 7-8-9 hitters. Yu resides in the seven spot, and the catcher has had a .286 batting average this season — a very respectable mark. Hitting behind him are star sophomores Gracia and Kyle Johnson, both named preseason All-Americans by Perfect Game. The pair has slumped to start their second campaign, but both are capable of doing significant damage any time they step into the batter’s box.
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Gracia in particular has had a rough start relative to expectations, with the slugger hitting only two home runs in the team’s first 32 contests. He stepped to the plate with Albright on second base and two outs, worked a full count, then rocketed the payoff pitch over the right-field wall, tying the game.
“He's really starting to look like himself,” Pollard said. “I think that's big for us over the second half. We're excited about the way he looks.”
The Blue Devils held a 4-3 lead entering the sixth and Zatkowski seemingly had settled in, but a double and a walk with no outs chased the Clarksville, Md., native. Relief pitcher Reid Easterly wasn’t able to strand the men aboard, and a Madera single and a wild pitch brought two runs home for the Tar Heels. The bottom of the eighth was more of the same. A pair of singles, a walk and a Jake Berger error let the home team grow its lead to three, and Duke was down to three more outs.
However, this is Duke-North Carolina. No matter how simple the game seemed, it was bound to be dramatic late. It didn’t go the way the Blue Devils wanted, but Pollard was still optimistic.
“I'll take flawed and really competitive any day of the week, and we've still got, obviously, plenty that we can work on and get better at, but I like the way we competed,” he said.
Duke returns to action Tuesday at 6 p.m., hosting William & Mary at Jack Coombs Field.