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The Daily Tar Heel
From the Press Box

UNC baseball wins first game of Duke series, 7-1

Kent Emanuel rebounded from his worst game of the season and shut down Duke for all nine innings as the No. 1 North Carolina baseball team beat the Blue Devils 7-1 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Emanuel got shelled last weekend at Virginia Tech, allowing eight runs and 14 hits in eight innings.

But he had no problems against Duke, allowing just a single run — a Jordan Betts home run with UNC up 7-0 in the seventh inning — and two hits while striking out eight in his third complete game of the season.

North Carolina improved to 37-2 (16-2 ACC), and Duke fell to 22-18 (8-11 ACC).

After a Grant McCabe one-out single in the first inning, Emanuel retired 17 of the next 18 batters and didn’t allow another hit until Betts’ homer in the seventh. One Blue Devil batter reached on an error.

The Tar Heels’ offense bailed him out against the Hokies, exploding for 21 runs and allowing Emanuel to pick up the win. He needed no such help in this one, although the Blue Devils did give him some.

Duke played a sloppy game, which let the Tar Heels jump out to a lead without picking up many hits. Duke starter Drew Van Orden hit five batters and threw multiple wild pitches.

And they were costly — UNC’s first three runs came on a hit batter with the bases loaded, a wild pitch and a passed ball. The Tar Heels’ first run-scoring hit didn’t come until the fifth inning, when Brian Holberton homered to center field.

With Emanuel back to form, North Carolina cruised the rest of the way. Emanuel finished off the complete game with a one-two-three ninth inning.

Game two of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

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