CHAPEL HILL - When the dust settled, only one was left standing.
For the first time since 1990, the baseball team bettered the North Carolina Tar Heels in a three-game series in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils (23-10, 6-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) won the showdown with an 11-10 win in the decisive third game on Sunday at Boshamer Stadium as junior Adam Geis scored on a throwing error in the top of the 11th and freshman reliever Steve Schroeder (2-0) slammed the door in the bottom half of the inning. The victory, coupled with a 15-8 win on Friday and a 9-6 loss on Saturday, gave Duke the 2-1 series victory and moved the Blue Devils to .500 in the ACC.
"Two years ago here, they scored 60 runs in three games and it wasn't even close," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "This is a little different trip for us this year."
The Tar Heels (20-13, 3-6) forced the extra frames by rallying from a 10-8 deficit in the bottom of the ninth. Second baseman Chris LaMarsh started the comeback with a one-out single off of Duke reliever Vaughn Schill and moved to third on a double by shortstop Brian Roberts. With the tying runs on base, Traylor elected to intentionally walk the next UNC batter, catcher Gregg Donohue, who was 3-for-4 on the day with 2 RBIs and a double, thus putting the winning run on base.
"We took a chance to walk Donahue with the winning run," Traylor said. "I'd seen enough of him-we were going to take our chances of ending the inning with a ground ball double play."
Designated hitter Rodney Nye almost played into the Blue Devils' hands as he slapped a grounder up the middle. Instead of being cut off for the double play, however, the ball skipped through the infield for a base hit, scoring pinch runner Jeremy Sessoms and Roberts. Duke averted further disaster as the next batter, right fielder Julian Dean, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
"College baseball consists of a lot of high-scoring games and it happens a lot in the third game of the series," Traylor said. "We certainly didn't feel comfortable going into the ninth with a two-run lead."
After a quiet 10th inning from both sides, junior Michael Fletcher opened up the 11th with a shot off the center field wall. Fletcher came around second and tried to stretch the double into a three-bagger, only to be gunned down on the relay throw.
"When the ball is in front of you, you make that decision on your own," Traylor said. "You don't want to make the first or third out at third base-everybody knows that. He saw the ball in front of him and he thought he could make it. They made two good relay throws. I'm not going to criticize him for that. If he makes it he gives us a lot of options. I look at that as just a big, clutch base hit by Mike Fletcher."
The Blue Devils did not lament their misfortune for long as the next batter, Geis, came through with his first hit in six at-bats on the afternoon with a crisp single to right field. A groundout by left fielder Randy Goodroe moved Geis into scoring position with two outs. Sophomore first baseman John Benik delivered by hitting a scorching groundball to the left side of the infield, only to have Tar Heel third baseman Clay Hooper make a brilliant dive to knock the ball down. Hooper jumped to his feet and fired the ball to first, but it sailed over first baseman Justin Raniszeski's head, allowing Geis to score the go-ahead run.
Schroeder, who had not pitched in over two weeks, dismissed the six UNC batters he faced in the last two innings to earn to win under impressive circumstances.
"I really can't say that he has had a bad outing for us at any time," Traylor said. "But to say we weren't concerned would be a lie because he is a freshman and he hadn't pitched since N.C. State.... I'd be worried about anyone who hadn't been out there for that long. The job that he did is an unbelievable thing for a freshman under those circumstances."
The game was one the Blue Devils appeared to have under control at several junctures, only to have UNC twice jump back into contention. Duke started the game off with a bang as Schill and senior second baseman Frankie Chiou singled to start the first and were promptly brought home on a triple by sophomore third baseman Jeff Becker. Freshman designated hitter Ed Conrey gave Duke its third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Becker.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Blue Devils scored again as two walks and an error brought in one Duke run before Chiou scored two more with a triple to right.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Tar Heels struck back against Blue Devil pitcher Richard Dishman, knocking in five runs on seven hits including back-to-back home runs to left by center fielder Jarrett Shearin and Raniszeski. UNC evened the scored at 6-6 in the next inning as Hooper hit a solo shot to left off of Duke reliever Clayton Connor.
The Blue Devils regained control of the game in the top of the sixth, as a pair of two-run homers by Schill and Becker put Duke up 10-6. UNC clawed its way back with two sacrifice flies, one in the sixth and one in the seventh, and behind the solid relief pitching of Scott McAllister (1-1), who surrendered just one earned run in closing out the final five-and-two-thirds innings.
Friday's game was also an offensive explosion as Chiou, Conrey and Benik all hit homers for Duke, part of 16 Blue Devil hits, en route to ending the Tar Heels' eight-game winning streak. Junior catcher Gregg Maluchnik, who was playing with a broken left hand, finished 3-for-5 on the day with three RBIs.
Saturday saw UNC bounce back behind the tough hitting of Donohue, who went 2-for-3 on the day with three RBIs, including a two-run double in the seventh that put the Tar Heels ahead to stay. Chiou and Benik continued their heavy hitting as both went deep again for the Blue Devils.
On the weekend, Chiou finished 7-for-12 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, five runs scored and seven RBIs-all after having sat out last weekend's games with an injury.
"After the injury, I sat out the Florida State series, and it's tough sitting on the bench and knowing that you could help the team," Chiou said. "I just came out this weekend with the mentality of doing the best that I could at the plate."
Chiou's numbers were more impressive than those he produced before his involuntary vacation.
"He has played much better coming back off of his injury than he was playing before his injury," Traylor said. "He's swinging the bat better, he's being a lot more aggressive at the plate. I think maybe the rest did him some good. He was pretty much the man this weekend."
By beating North Carolina, Duke reached the coveted .500 plateau in the ACC, which is where Traylor believes Duke will have to be at the end of the year in order to earn a trip to the postseason.
"Every game is so critical to teams that are harboring aspirations of playing in an NCAA regional," he said. "Everybody is so even in this conference that when it is all said and done, any team that finishes fifth or higher and ends up with 12 wins is going to get a regional bid. To get to 12 wins in this conference is a huge undertaking, and when you get close to a win like that you've got to close it out."
Despite having won series' against the talented Tar Heels and power-packed N.C. State as well as stealing one from national power Florida State, the Blue Devils still have a tough slate to come that includes top-10 ranked Georgia Tech and perennially tough Clemson.
"It feels great to win series' against teams that are just as good as you are, but we still have a tough road ahead of us," Chiou said. "This group of guys is great because they just try and win every game that they can, they don't look at the big picture. That is the kind of mentality we need to have, because if we don't play our best, we can't play with anyone."
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