Duke ties series 1-1 with rival North Carolina after dominant fourth inning
Durham, N.C. (BVM) – A see-saw game was blown open by the Duke Blue Devils in the bottom of the fourth inning in the second of three games versus rival North Carolina. On a perfect baseball evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the No. NR Blue Devils rebounded from a disappointing 10-5 loss to the No. 15 Tar Heels Friday night.
Duke’s Luke Fox got the start Saturday night pitching 4.0 innings with two strikeouts on 91 pitches. Fox gave up six hits and three runs in the start. Duke’s bullpen had a strong performance and did not give up another run after Fox left the game.
Offensively, the Blue Devils had one run in each of the first three innings led by left fielder RJ Schreck who scored on an RBI single from third baseman Graham Pauley. In the second, shortstop Alex Mooney scored on a throwing error by Carolina.
Schreck scored two more times on an RBI double from first baseman Luke Storm in the third inning and on an RBI single from Pauley with Hoyle also scoring. That followed a two-run homerun by catcher Alex Stone which started the Blue Devils six-run fourth inning with Mooney scoring after being walked to lead off. Storm rounded out the inning with another two-run home run bringing in Pauley.
The Blue Devils offense stalled after the fourth going three up, three down for the rest of the game. However, Blue Devils head coach Chris Pollard saw a lot of positives before that in the Saturday night rebound.
“I thought our offense was really complete through the first half of the game,” Pollard said.
Pollard also saw some progress on team goals during the game.
“We’ve talked a lot as a team about using the team offense and the situation to get our overall offense going and I thought that happened tonight,” Pollard said.
For the Tar Heels, freshman pitcher Max Carlson got the start, but only saw 2.1 innings of action after giving up three runs on four hits. Carolina’s bullpen struggled for a stretch with Shaddon Peavyhouse pitching only 0.2 innings and giving up three runs on three hits. The Tar Heels switched to Shawn Rapp who also gave up three runs on three hits, but finished out the Blue Devils run before any more damage could be done.
Offensively, the Tar Heels took the lead in the second inning after two RBI singles by left fielder Tyler Causey and center fielder Vance Honeycutt. Second baseman Johnny Castagnozzi broke the tie in the top of the third with a solo home run to right field.
But that is where the Carolina offense also stalled and stranded seven runners and did not score another run.
The Tar Heels revolving door in left field also reared its head, with Causey being replaced by Joe Jaconski. That change came after Causey lost a fly ball in the lights in the third inning and allowed the Blue Devils to tie the game.
Duke’s Josh Allen got the win while UNC’s Peavyhouse took the loss for the Tar Heels.
With the series now tied, the series should become even more intense in its final day. An even larger crowd than this evenings 2,779 is expected for the rivalry finale.
Duke and UNC will meet tomorrow at 1PM at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
