Duke Falls to No. 15 North Carolina, 10-5

Friday, March 18

Durham, N.C.

4:00 P.M.

Duke University

10-8, 0

North Carolina

16-2, 0

North Carolina

Duke

Duke Falls to No. 15 North Carolina, 10-5

3/18/2022 8:30:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE SEASON STATS COACH POLLARD POSTGAME PHOTO GALLERY

DURHAM – The Duke baseball program dropped the first game of the series against North Carolina, 10-5, on Friday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham.

Duke dipped to 10-8 and 1-3 in the ACC on the season while the 15th-ranked Tar Heels propel to 16-2 and 4-0 in conference play.

Senior RJ Schreck and junior Graham Pauley led Duke offensively. Schreck finished 2-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs. Pauley went 3-for-4, tallying his team-leading eighth double of the season.

Junior Marcus Johnson started on the mound for the Blue Devils. Johnson allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits and four walks in five innings of work. He struck out seven but was tagged with the loss. North Carolina's Kyle Mott earned the win in relief, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk in three innings pitched.

North Carolina opened strong, scoring in each of the first four innings to jump out to a 5-2 lead. Senior RJ Schreck hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to score Duke's first run. Pauley doubled to lead off the fourth inning, before a single by graduate student Chris Crabtree and a fielder's choice by freshman Alex Mooney drove him in.

Duke plated two more in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull withing one. Graduate student Trevor Johnson singled before sophomore Luke Storm hit a big fly to right center to score two. North Carolina responded with a pair of runs of their own in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to, 7-4.

Schreck hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the seventh inning, another solo shot to right field. The Los Angeles, Calif., native became the first Blue Devil to hit two home runs in a single game since he did so against Wright State in June 2021.

The Tar Heels scored three more across the eighth and ninth innings to win game one, 10-5.

Senior Aaron Beasley ate innings for the Blue Devils out of the bullpen, allowing three runs on just two hits and one walk. Beasley struck out four in the outing. Freshman Jonathan Santucci also appeared in relief, finishing the game for Duke with a clean inning pitched and one strikeout.

Duke and North Carolina return to action Saturday for game two of the series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at the DBAP and tickets are $12. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

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