UNC loses series to Duke

Jesse Wierzbicki (TarHeelBlue.com)

Tied up at one a piece with the rubber game deciding who was going to win the series and the point for the Carlyle Cup I was hoping to give better news. However, 11th ranked North Carolina (12-4 & 1-2 in the ACC) fell to host Duke (11-4 & 2-1 in the ACC) by the final of 5 to 3 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With the point earned the Blue Devils move a bit closer as the score in the Cup is now 11 to 7.5 for the Tar Heels. Junior right hander Greg Holt (0-1) got the loss for Carolina, as he pitched the final 1.1 innings of the game and gave up three runs (all earned) on three hits and a walk. Before him red shirt junior Colin Bates had held Duke to just two runs in 6.2 IP giving up seven hits and a walk while striking out three.

On the offensive side the Heels didn’t have the regular out put either as the batters only had eight hits and a walk against six K’s. Only sophomore infielder Levi Michael and freshman outfielder Chaz Frank had multiple hits in the game with two a piece, while Jesse Wierzbicki (2) and senior short stop Ryan Graepel (1) had the RBI’s in the game. Frosh center fielder Brian Goodwin and Graepel both keep their hitting streak alive with one a piece. Having said all of this, the Tar Heels took the lead in this game when Wierzbicki took a pitch and sent it over the right field wall with a man on base in the top of the third (2-0). The score stayed the same until Duke scored two back in the bottom of the fifth to tie it up (2-2), but another run by UNC in the next frame put the score at 3 to 2 for Carolina. That score held until the bottom of the eighth when the home squad scored two more to take the lead for good (5-3).

North Carolina has today to re-group and get ready for two series in Chapel Hill. The first one being tomorrow and Wednesday against Princenton and then Fri/Sat/Sun versus Florida State in the second ACC series of the year. Of course I will try to give you a small recap of the game and for more info you can always check out what THB says about it.

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