No. 1 Tar Heels Edge Duke 8-5 In Series Opener

Friday, March 20

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina

No. 1 Tar Heels Edge Duke 8-5 In Series Opener

3/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Ben Bunting and Levi Michael each homered, had three hits and drove in two runs apiece to lead No. 1 North Carolina to an 8-5 win over Duke in the series opener Friday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

Bunting, hitting leadoff for the Tar Heels (17-2, 5-1 ACC) went 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, a stolen base and a walk, while Michael finished 3-for-5 with a two-run homer in the third inning. Three-hitter Dustin Ackley went 2-for-5 with a run, making the top of North Carolina's lineup 8-for-14 in the game while accounting for six of the team's eight runs.

Duke (12-7, 3-4 ACC) hit North Carolina starter Alex White (4-0) around for five runs on eight hits over seven complete innings, but could not keep up with a Tar Heel offense that knocked 14 hits in the game. Duke got home runs from outfielder Jeremy Gould and catcher Matt Williams ? the second of the season for each.

North Carolina closer Colin Bates logged a two-inning save, closing out the final two frames by allowing just one Duke hit, which was a triple for freshman Will Piwnica-Worms in the eighth inning. It was Piwnica-Worms' second triple of the season and one of his two hits on the night, the other being a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning.

Duke scored in four different innings and got two RBI from Williams and one each from Gould, Jake Lemmerman and Piwnica-Worms. Duke first baseman Nate Freiman also finished with two hits, including his sixth double of the season. Every time Duke scored, however, North Carolina responded with at least one run in their next offensive series, scoring in five different frames in the game. The Tar Heels scored five runs off Duke starter Christopher Manno (1-3), who lasted 3.2 innings. Manno fanned a season-high five batters, including Ackley twice, but surrendered five hits and three walks.

White came out firing in the first inning and sat down three of Duke's first four hitters on 14 pitches. He battled Freiman into a 1-2 count, but the Duke senior got the best of him with a base hit back up the middle. Freiman would be Duke's only base runner in the opening inning, however, as White forced Gould to lift a high fly ball into right field for the final out of the inning.

Manno was effective in his first inning as well, but ran into some bad luck when his third baseman, Ryan McCurdy, slipped on the infield grass while trying to grab a pop up. The popup fell in behind McCurdy for a base hit and allowed leadoff man Ben Bunting to score from second base. McCurdy put himself under the high pop up, hit by Seager, but slipped and fell while backtracking in an effort to stay under the ball. The ball, which was hit high enough to allow Bunting to step on the plate just seconds after it hit the ground, was ruled a hit and gave North Carolina a 1-0 lead with two outs on the board. Seager then advanced to second on a wild pitch, but was picked off two pitches later by Manno, who used his inside move to catch Seager halfway to third base.

Duke struck back in the top of the third and tied the game at 1-1 on a sacrifice fly by Williams. With McCurdy on third after a leadoff walk and a two-strike base hit by Hassan, Williams crushed a tailing line drive into center field. Tar Heel outfielder Mike Cavasinni was there to catch the line drive, but was too deep to have a shot at throwing out McCurdy, who easily tagged up and scored. The scoring series was made possible by Hassan's opposite field single, which extended his hitting streak to a team-high seven games. Hassan fell behind 0-2 in the count, but took a ball and then fouled off one off to stay alive. With one out and a 1-2 count, Hassan slapped White's next offering into right field to move McCurdy from first to third, where he would then score on Williams' deep line drive.

The Tar Heels would respond in the next half inning, however, on a two-out home run by Michael that put North Carolina ahead 3-1. Michael's bomb was his ACC-leading eighth of the season and immediately followed a double down the right field line by Bunting. The two-run homer was the third long ball of the week for Michael.

The Blue Devils flashed some pop of their own in the top of the fourth and cut the deficit to 3-2 on a leadoff solo home run by Gould. Gould fell behind 1-2 in the count, but watched the next pitch go by to even it up at 2-2 and then mashed White's next offering over the left field wall. It was the second long ball of the season for Gould, the sixth of his career and the fourth home run in the last three games for the Blue Devils.

The bottom of the fourth inning would be the last for Manno, however, as Greg Holt chased him out of the game with a two-out, bases-loaded single that drove in two runs and ran North Carolina's lead to 5-2. Both Garrett Gore and Mark Fleury scored on the base knock after reaching base with a single and a walk. Cavasinni pushed both runners into scoring position by taking a two-out walk, that was quickly followed by Holt's base hit to left field. O'Grady then came to the mound to face the top of North Carolina's lineup and used five pitches to retire Bunting and strand a pair of Tar Heels on first and second.

The Tar Heels kept hitting the ball hard in the bottom of the fifth though, and sent in another two-out RBI on a base knock by Fleury. With runners on first and second following an Ackley single and a hit batsman, Fleury dribbled a ground ball that just squeaked past the glove of a diving Freiman at first base and rolled into the outfield to score Ackley.

Though trailing 6-2 heading into the top of the sixth, the middle of Duke's lineup started a two-run rally that included RBI singles by Lemmerman and Will Piwnica-Worms and trimmed the deficit to 6-4. Freiman led off the inning with a line drive double that hit the top of the right field wall and then got a free pass to third with a wild pitch. Gould then drew a walk to put runners at the corners for Saade, who tried to lay a bunt down the right field line, but lined it right at Ackley at first base. Gould was off the bag when Ackley snagged the lineout, but dove back just in time to save what would have been a double play. With runners still at the corners, Lemmerman sent in Duke's first run of the game with an RBI single to right-center field that also pushed Gould over to third. With runners at the corners once again and one out on the board, White got out number two by striking out Pfisterer, but gave up another RBI base hit to Piwnica-Worms that gave the Duke freshman center fielder his second straight game with an RBI. Duke would load the bases on an ensuing walk to McCurdy, but had the rally killed when White forced Hassan to fly out to right field for the third out.

North Carolina would quickly get back both runs in the next half inning on a two-run homer by Bunting that put the Tar Heels ahead 8-4. The long ball came off of Duke reliever Will Currier, who started the inning on the mound and gave up a single to Cavasinni before retiring pinch hitter Seth Baldwin for the first out of the frame. He could do little to stifle Bunting's bat however, as the Tar Heel leadoff man sent Currier's 1-0 offering just over the 355-foot fence in the right field power alley for the two-run homer and his second extra-base hit of the day. Currier would allow two more hits in the inning to Michael and Ackley, but got himself out of the jam by retiring Carolina's four-hitter Seager and five-hitter Gore.

Williams got in on the home run derby for Duke in the top of the seventh and trimmed the score to 8-5 with a leadoff blast to deep center field for his second long ball of the season. Williams' homer came on the first pitch he saw from White and sailed out of the park just to the right of the batter's eye in straight-away center field. That would be Duke's only run of the inning, however, as White sat down Duke's next three hitters ? two on swinging strikeouts ? to end the inning.

North Carolina called on Bates in the eighth to wrap up a two-inning save and he got through his first inning with little damage. He gave up a two-out triple to Piwnica-Worms in the inning, but stranded him at third base after getting a flyout from McCurdy to end the inning. It was the second triple of the season for Piwnica-Worms, who ripped a line drive past the glove of a diving Cavasinni which rolled to the warning track in center field.

Duke freshman Joe Pedevillano toed the rubber for Duke in the eighth and held the top of North Carolina's lineup scoreless to keep the deficit at three runs. Pedevillano gave up a bloop single to Bunting and an infield single to Michael, but let his defense work for him the rest of the way and retired the final three Tar Heel batters.

Bates made quick work of the top of the Duke lineup in the eighth and retired all three hitters to lock up his third save of the season.

Duke and North Carolina will continue the series on Saturday, March 21, with a 2 p.m. meeting at Boshamer Stadium. Duke will send right-handed senior Andrew Wolcott (3-0, 1.27 ERA) to the mound opposite North Carolina senior right-hander Adam Warren (3-0, 1.93 ERA).

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