Tar Heels fall flat in late innings to lose baseball tournament to Duke

DURHAM — No. 11 North Carolina and Duke combined for 56 runs while splitting the first two games of their annual series, so a pitching duel wasn’t exactly what they expected in the deciding game on Sunday.

But that’s what they got, as UNC starter Colin Bates and Duke starter Dennis O’Grady prevented either side from jumping out to a big lead like in the two previous games.

The result was a 5-3 Duke victory on Sunday, giving them the win in the series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

“Like most ACC games, if it’s close it comes down to one pitch or one swing of the bat, and they got it today,” UNC coach Mike Fox said.

This time, it was two swings. With two outs in the eighth inning, Duke’s Eric Brady hit an RBI double to tie the game 3-3, and teammate Brian Litwin knocked in two more runs to give the Blue Devils the winning edge.

Duke won two straight after the Tar Heels blasted them 21-9 in the opener. The Blue Devils had an eight-run sixth inning to take the 15-11 win Saturday.

In the finale, Bates was in total control for the first four innings. He faced just one batter more than the minimum during that stretch while forcing Duke (11-4, 2-1) into plenty of flies and ground outs.

“I just tried to be efficient,” Bates said. “I felt like I had a pretty good slider today, and (the Blue Devils) were putting themselves out a little bit.”

After the near-perfect start, Bates started to get into some trouble in later innings. In the fifth, he gave up a two-run homer to Will Currier that tied the game at 2-2, and he got into another tight spot two innings later.

The junior had managed to get two outs, but with runners on second and third, Fox decided that Bates’ 81 pitches were enough and sent in closer Greg Holt.

Holt temporarily preserved the Tar Heels’ one-run lead, forcing a fly ball to wrap up the seventh. But Duke managed three runs off of three hits and a walk in the eighth, giving Holt (0-1) the loss.

After a Levi Michael double, Jesse Wierzbicki hit a home run in the top of the third to give UNC (12-4, 1-2) the early advantage. Michael scored again in the sixth off of Ryan Graepel’s single, but apart from that, the Tar Heels didn’t have any other runners in scoring position until a last-minute rally attempt.

UNC had a promising start to the ninth inning with a bunt, a walk and a sacrifice bunt to move the tying runners to second and third with just one out. But the Tar Heels couldn’t manage another hit, finishing with eight for the game.

Graepel is riding a 10-game hit streak and freshman Brian Goodwin — who hit 4-for-4 in Friday’s blowout — extended his to 11 games. Those are both career bests, but that’s no consolation.

Given the offensive showcase that made up the first two games of the series, Fox’s biggest frustration was the lack of production from the Tar Heels’ bats.

“We were going to have to score to win this game, we knew that,” Fox said. “And we didn’t.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.