Duke Comes Up Short to No. 15 North Carolina, 4-1

Sunday, March 20

Durham, N.C.

1:00 P.M.

Duke University

11-9, 0

North Carolina

17-3, 0

North Carolina

Duke

Duke Comes Up Short to No. 15 North Carolina, 4-1

3/20/2022 4:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE SEASON STATS COACH POLLARD POSTGAME

DURHAM – Duke came up short in the rubber game against North Carolina, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham.

The Blue Devils drop to 11-9 on the season and 2-4 in ACC play while North Carolina moves to 17-3 overall and 5-1 in conference action.

Graduate student Wil Hoyle led the Blue Devils offensively, finishing 2-for-3 with two of Duke's three hits.

Junior Billy Seidl started on the mound for Duke, allowing three runs on nine hits and two walks in five innings pitched to be tagged with the loss. He dops to 1-1 on the season. Seidl struck out seven batters. North Carolina's Connor Bovair earned the win, giving up just two hits and one unearned run in seven innings of work. He improved to 2-1.

Seidl opened the game strong, with six strikeouts in the first two innings. North Carolina broke the stalemate in the third inning, stringing together three hits to take a 2-0 lead. Seidl bounced back, posting scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth to keep the game 2-0.

Duke pulled one back in the bottom of the fifth inning as graduate student Chris Crabtree led off the inning with a single to shatter the no-hit bid for the Tar Heels. Sophomore Alex Stone scored later in the inning on an RBI single by Hoyle.

North Carolina added another in the top of the sixth inning by the way of a leadoff home run. The Tar Heels continued to threaten, singling in the next at-bat. Graduate student John Natoli entered the game and got Duke out of the jam. He retired six of eight batters faced, allowing just one hit and one walk, for his fifth consecutive scoreless appearance in relief.

The Tar Heels added another in the top of the eighth, 4-1. Duke threatened in the bottom half of the inning, putting runners on first and second with no outs. North Carolina retired three of the next four batters to keep Duke off the scoreboard.

Senior Jimmy Loper finished the game for the Blue Devils. Loper allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out a batter in two innings of work.

The Blue Devils return to action in midweek action on Tuesday against William & Mary and Wednesday versus Presbyterian. First pitches are set for 4 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

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