The North Carolina baseball team (15-13, 9-10 ACC) lost to Duke (13-13, 6-10 ACC), 4-2, in the opening game of its series on Saturday.
What happened?
Austin Love, UNC’s starting pitcher, retired the first two Duke batters in the top of the first, but a ground ball single from Duke’s Erikson Nichols set up an RBI double by Peter Matt. Matt’s deep fly ball to right field soared over the head of UNC’s Caleb Roberts and bounced off the wall, allowing Nichols to score from first base to put Duke up 1-0.
Duke doubled its lead in the second inning, when junior Ethan Murray advanced to first on a walk, then reached home plate on a subsequent single from sophomore Chad Knight and a sacrifice bunt from redshirt junior Will Hoyle.
A weather delay forced the game to pick back up at noon Saturday, and sophomore Will Sandy took the mound for UNC. Fifth-year player Brad Centracchio gave the Tar Heels their first hit with a hard-hit double down the first-base line, but UNC couldn’t capitalize, as he was stranded at third base to end the frame.
In the fifth inning, Matt struck again for the Blue Devils with a two-run homer that gave Duke a 4-0 lead.
The Tar Heels were finally able to put a run on the board in the bottom of the eighth, as an RBI single from first-year catcher Tomas Frick drove in sophomore outfielder Justice Thompson to trim the deficit to 4-1.
In the bottom of the ninth, UNC had one last chance to make a comeback. A leadoff single from Jake Holtzapple got things started, and his pinch runner, Mikey Madej, scored on a Duke throwing error. Thompson stepped into the batter’s box representing the tying run, but struck out swinging to end the game.
