The baseball team will look to stop a four-game losing streak this weekend when it travels down Tobacco Road for a three-game series against North Carolina. The Blue Devils enter the matchup with a respectable overall record of 25-15, but with a unimpressive Atlantic Coast Conference mark of 4-12.
"Our team is very upbeat and ready to play," head coach Steve Traylor said. "We'll be ready to play our best baseball."
Despite revamping their lineup with junior college players and transfers, the Tar Heels have had a very solid year, going 25-12 overall, 8-4 in the ACC.
"They've been a very consistent team all year," Traylor said. "They are a very sound baseball team, a very solid upper-division ACC team this year."
As with any Duke-Carolina sporting event, there is always the talk of the well-documented rivalry between the two neighboring schools. But Traylor thinks that rivalry is less intense in baseball than in other sports.
"There's a rivalry, but I think that rivalries in baseball don't have the same flashpoint that football and basketball have," Traylor said.
"As a [baseball] program, if you get too emotional for one game or one team, that's really not in your best interest in the course of a long season. But being Carolina, there's a little more focus on that. It's Carolina-Duke, so it's very important."
The Blue Devils have had success against the Tar Heels in recent years, posting a 7-4 record over the past three seasons. Nearly all of the games have been close contests--a few with especially memorable finishes.
In 1992, Duke's Ryan Jackson smacked a game-winning grand slam to enable the Blue Devils to sweep a double-header against the Tar Heels. Then last season--in the final college game at the Durham Athletic Park--Duke rallied from a 12-6 deficit to defeat UNC 16-12.
But not all of the great games have gone the Blue Devils' way. In 1994, after the Blue Devils had swept the Tar Heels in the regular season for the first time since 1952, North Carolina wrecked Duke's NCAA tournament chances when the Tar Heels ousted the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament. Duke entered the bottom of the ninth in that game with 12-10 lead, but ended up losing the game, 13-12.
This weekend, the Blue Devils hope to utilize their pitching strength by adopting a set rotation, not only in the Carolina series, but for the rest of the year. The trio will consist of senior Craig Starman, junior Scott Schoeneweis and sophomore Richard Dishman.
Moving to a set rotation will give the Blue Devils more experience in its young bullpen as junior David Darwin moves into a relief role.
"The rest of our schedule is spaced out so that we only need three starters," Traylor said. "I think one [more] pitcher in our bullpen right now may be very key for us."
Getting a few wins against Carolina will help sweeten what some may be calling a sour season for the Blue Devils. But even with its disappointing conference record, Traylor said he is very pleased with his team's overall performance.
"I think that we've been a very competitive team in a very good league,' Traylor said. "I have no complaints about what our kids have done this year. They've exceeded expectations in many ways."
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