UNC claims series with Duke with 15-run performance

DURHAM — Saturday’s contest between the No. 8 North Carolina baseball team and Duke looked a lot like Friday night’s 2-1 pitcher’s duel for the first five innings.

Then the Tar Heel bats came alive.

“That’s happened to us a couple of time this year,” Parks Jordan, who had a career high four hits Saturday, said.

“We scored a run or two in the first inning or two then we kind of put it in cruise control for a few innings. Then we’re like alright guys lets pick it up and put some more runs on the board. I guess we just get tired of it and say, ‘OK, let’s put something up.”

The Tar Heel offense got going as Brian Holberton led off the second inning with a single, took second on a wild pitch and moved over to third on a swinging bunt from Tommy Coyle. Adam Griffin came up and lined one at the right fielder who made an error fielding the ball allowing Holberton to score.

North Carolina (37-13. 18-8) kept the rally going with back to back hits from Jordan and Chaz Frank to load up the bases and Michael Russell made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to right field.

UNC starter Benton Moss only gave up four hits in the game but two of them were well hit doubles, one in the fourth and one in the fifth. In the fifth, Jordan Betts beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners after the second of those doubles and that was the end of Moss’s day.

R.C. Orlan came on in relief and gave up a single to Jeff Kremer that gave the Blue Devils (19-31, 7-19) their first run of the game. But Orlan recorded the strikeout in the next at bat to halt the Duke charge and kept the Tar Heels on top 2-1 going to the sixth inning.

The Blue Devils wouldn’t score again, and the Tar Heels were just getting started.

“We were fortunate that we pitched well early to stay in the game,” coach Mike Fox said. “Benton was on thin ice for a while because he couldn’t throw a lot of first ball strikes…First part of the game, we were throwing balls and the second part of the game they were throwing balls.”

Michael Russell gave UNC a little cushion in the sixth with a two out single to left that scored Coyle. Russell’s single was the last action Duke starter Trent Swart would see for the day after 5.2 innings of work. Swart struck out nine Tar Heels out of 29 batters faced, gave up six hits and three runs (two of them earned).

“Thank goodness they took him out,” Fox said. “The whole thing changed from there.”

Moran solidified the Tar Heel lead with a monstrous double off the wall in left field. That shot brought both Frank and Russell across the plate to give UNC a 5-1 advantage.

“I hit it pretty well, but I thought it might get caught,” Moran said. “It’s kind of short out there with that big wall so luckily I was just able to hit it off that.”

Jordan tripled in the seventh to score Griffin and Frank followed that up with a single that scored the sophomore left fielder. For the day, Jordan had three RBI and scored two runs himself in six at bats.

“You know I was just seeing the ball really well,” Jordan said. “I think two of my hits were off fast balls and the other two on breaking balls. So overall, it just felt good. I was picking up the spin earl, that was a big part of good hitting today.”

UNC added on another pair of runs in the eighth and nailed the Blue Devils in the coffin with six more in the ninth to give them the final advantage 15-1.