General Manager Mike Birling has been with the Durham Bulls for 15 years. He’s seen countless games. Yet last year’s ACC tournament bout between North Carolina and N.C. State is one of a handful he’ll never forget.
If the in-state rivalry alone wasn’t compelling enough, there was the record-breaking crowd, the ACC tournament record 18 innings played in a 2-1 UNC win. There was star power — ace Carlos Rodon, a projected top draft pick, throwing gas against a UNC team that would go into the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
And then there was surprise, in the offseason, when Birling and Bulls owner Jim Goodmon realized the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack weren’t scheduled to play a single game against each other due to an ACC scheduling quirk.
That had to change.
Working with UNC coach Mike Fox and N.C. State coach Elliott Avent, the Bulls organized a non-conference game between the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on April 15 — a rematch of last season’s 18-inning classic.
“When the schedule came out and we found out that N.C. State and UNC weren’t going to be playing this season, obviously, we can’t let that happen — just from a pure baseball standpoint and from the fans’ perspective,” Birling said. “This rivalry is too great to not play a game.”
The “Duel at the DBAP” is in some ways a result of burgeoning interest for both baseball programs.
It started with a magazine cover. UNC and N.C. State were thrust onto the national stage before last season began, with both team’s star players posing at the DBAP on the front of Baseball America. The cover read, “Tobacco Road to Omaha,” and it proved fortuitous with both teams making the trip to Omaha, Neb. and facing off twice in the College World series.
“Just 16 years here in North Carolina, I’ve never talked to the media like this, (on) January 14,” Fox said at a Tuesday press conference. “Obviously, both programs received great exposure last year and just to continue to build on that and more people get excited about college baseball in this area, it’s a great thing.”
