North Carolina Tops Duke 6-2

Saturday, March 7

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina

Duke, NC State Meet in Weekend Series at the DBAP

North Carolina Tops Duke 6-2

3/7/2015 6:41:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 11 North Carolina handed Duke a 6-2 setback in game two of the teams' ACC-opening series Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

UNC starter J.B. Bukauskas (2-1) earned the win following six scoreless innings. The freshman scattered four hits and struck out eight while walking two. Duke (10-3, 0-2 ACC) threatened early, putting four on over the first two innings, but Bukauskas settled down and retired 12-straight Blue Devils from the second to the sixth.

Similar to Friday's series opener, Duke put runners on but was unable to deliver the key hit. The Blue Devils left 11 on base Saturday, including twice loading the bases. For the series, Duke is 2-of-20 with runners in scoring position.

“North Carolina has one of the best pitching staffs in the country,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “We made some good adjustments today, but we need to do a better job of putting the ball in play on two-strike counts and avoiding the strikeout. That's the biggest difference in these two ballgames; when they get in two-strike counts, they've putting the ball in play. We've got to do a better job of that.”

Duke starter Michael Matuella tossed three shutout innings to start the ballgame, allowing just one hit and one walk in the no decision.

North Carolina broke through in the fourth inning, striking for three runs on four hits off freshman reliever Mitch Stallings (2-2). A Landon Lassiter double coupled with a Tyler Ramirez triple plated the first run of the game. Adrian Chacon lifted a sacrifice fly to left and Logan Warmoth added an RBI base knock as well.

Down 3-0, Duke looked to even the score with a bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh. Peter Zyla led off with his second single of the day and Rosenfeld chipped in with a base hit of his own. Justin Bellinger then drew the walk to load the bases with no outs. Following a strikeout, Andy Perez roped a line drive right at reliever Trevor Kelley for the second out. Tar Heel first baseman Zack Gahagan then made a spectacular diving play to rob Jalen Phillips of an RBI base hit and keep the Blue Devils off the board.

“On whole we took better swings today,” Pollard said. “Even though we didn't have a ton to show for it, we kept putting ourselves in good position and kept putting runners in scoring position. You keep doing that and eventually you're going to break through. I feel we're very close with that.”

North Carolina mounted a two-out rally in the bottom half, instigated by a hit batter. Zack Gahagan belted an RBI triple off the wall in left field and Brian Miller added an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-0.

Duke got on the board in the eighth on a Rosenfeld two-out, two-run double, scoring Evan Dougherty and Cris Perez. Dougherty walked to start the frame and C. Perez added a single. The double was Rosenfeld's fifth of the season and the starting catcher also picked up multiple RBI for the fourth time this year.

The Tar Heels scored their final run in the eight, utilizing two walks and a hit batter.

The two teams square off in the series finale Sunday, Mar. 8 at 2 p.m. Duke RHP Bailey Clark is set to start opposite of North Carolina RHP Benton Moss.

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