Before the No. 10 North Carolina baseball team's weekend series against Duke, the Tar Heels had outscored their opponents 60-17 in the first three innings of games. In the teams' Friday and Saturday contests at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, UNC put up nine runs in innings 1-3 while Duke managed none.
Sunday's matchup was more of the same, as the Tar Heels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first three frames, eventually winning 8-2 and sweeping the series against the Blue Devils.
As it did on Saturday, North Carolina (17-2, 5-1 ACC) piled up three runs in the top of the first inning.
With a runner on second and one out in the frame, first-year infielder Kyle Datres sent a chopper to the Duke (10-10, 1-5 ACC) third baseman, who attempted to throw Datres out at first. The ball got by the first baseman, however, allowing Brian Miller to score from second and give UNC a 1-0 lead.
Three batters later, sophomore Logan Warmoth smacked a triple over the head of the right fielder, scoring two more runs. Once again, the Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
In the top of the third, junior outfielder extended the Tar Heels lead when he took a pitch from Duke's Brian McAfee over the wall in right-center for a two-run homerun, pushing the lead to 5-0.
Ramirez added on to his RBI total in the fifth, slapping a ball between the first and second baseman to score Adam Pate. After five innings, the Tar Heels lead stood at 6-0.
Warmoth would pick up two more RBIs with a one-out single to right-center in the bottom of the seventh, putting the score at 8-0.
Sophomore right-hander Jason Morgan, who had a rough game in his last outing against Pittsburgh on March 23, threw seven shut-out innings, striking out five batters and issuing just one walk.
