Duke aids pitchers' rebound

Nothing spells relief for struggling pitchers quite like Duke.

Luckily for a North Carolina pitching staff fresh off a pummeling at the hands of Miami, a triple dose of Blue Devil hitters provided just the cure.

Andrew Miller, Robert Woodard and Daniel Bard combined to allow three earned runs in 23 innings as the Tar Heels completed a weekend sweep of Duke at Boshamer Stadium.

“It all starts on the mound for us,” said UNC coach Mike Fox. “We pitched well all three days against Duke, and (Sunday) was the best one.”

Miller, who saw his earned-run average jump from 1.10 to 2.11 after the shortest outing of his career April 15, struck out nine in seven innings as the No. 12 Tar Heels (33-8-1, 14-4-1 in the ACC) cruised to a 10-1 victory Friday.

“He just concentrated more,” said catcher Justin Webb. “He didn’t walk as many people, threw more strikes, let his defense play a little bit. He had good stuff — he usually brings good stuff to the field anyway.”

Chad Flack provided more than enough insurance when he hit a seventh-inning home run over the screen in center field — a blast of more than 450 feet.

BASEBALL Duke 0 UNC 7 Duke 2 UNC 7 Duke 1 UNC 10

Woodard took the mound Saturday and scattered five hits across seven innings in the Tar Heels’ 5-2 win.

Bard, who pitched Sunday, was hoping to rebound from two consecutive disappointing starts. He allowed five earned runs in 1 2/3 innings against Miami, and he lasted only four innings three days later against East Carolina.

But any glimmer of hope for the Blue Devils (12-30, 3-17) didn’t last long, as Bard set down the side in order in the first.

“That’s the first 1-2-3 inning I’ve had in about a month,” he said.

Seth Williams opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, smacking a double into the left-field corner to score Flack and Jay Cox. Two batters later, Matt Spencer doubled to right field to score Williams and give the Tar Heels a 3-0 lead.

Bard took control from there, working quickly and allowing only two hits and striking out five.

“I was just trying to have quick innings,” Bard said. “Especially after we’d score, let them get in there and let them hit the ball.”

But by the final inning UNC was up 7-0, and the only question remaining was whether or not Bard would complete what he started. He did.

“I needed that, just from a confidence standpoint,” Bard said. “We’ve got (Matt) Danford out in the bullpen who would have shut them down for an inning, but I wanted that just to say I had a complete-game shutout this year.”

Bard wasn’t the only Tar Heel to benefit from the opportunity to build confidence and momentum.

The defense displayed improvement from its shoddy performance against Miami, and the hitters did what they needed to do to win.

With nine conference games remaining, North Carolina will need all the confidence it can get. Weekend series against N.C. State, Florida State and Georgia Tech will determine whether or not the Tar Heels can capture their first regular-season ACC title since 1990.

“The last nine games, it’s all up to us,” Fox said. “It’s going to be nine tough games.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.