CHAPEL HILL -- While the Duke baseball team has had little trouble putting up runs in its last three contests, giving up runs has been a continual problem for the young Blue Devil squad. But yesterday in Chapel Hill's Boshamer Stadium, the Duke pitching staff and defense were nearly flawless, yielding six hits and zero errors to solidify a 4-0 shutout over archrival North Carolina.
The victory marked the team's second straight over the Tar Heels (25-20, 6-12 in the ACC), permitting Duke (21-25, 7-10) to enter into a fifth-place tie with N.C. State in the ACC. The series win also signified the Blue Devils' vast improvement since last season, when UNC shellacked them three straight times.
"I don't know how long it's been since Duke came down here and took two out of three against Carolina," Duke coach Bill Hillier said. "But whenever you go on the road and take two out of three, that's huge."
Freshman right-hander Justin Dilucchio (2-2) picked up the win by pitching 5.2 innings of three-hit ball for the Blue Devils. Despite his dominant performance, Dilucchio acknowledged that yesterday was not his best game of the season. Instead, he credited Duke's defense for executing throughout the game en route to its best overall
"I'm always confident in the guys behind me because they're great," Dilucchio said. "I think we played really well on defense today. I didn't strike anyone out, but I used the defense as much as I could."
While Dilucchio was stifling the Tar Heels' batters, Duke's hitters were giving Carolina's pitchers all they could handle from the game's start. In the first inning, first baseman Drew Jerdan singled home junior Kevin Kelly with two outs to give the Blue Devils an early 1-0 lead.
In the top of the second inning, the Blue Devils struck again, as hot-hitting David Mason, who came into the game batting .353, singled to start the inning. Sophomore Gideon Thompson followed the senior with a double to rightfield, placing two Duke runners in scoring position. Next, catcher Adam Loftin knocked a sacrifice fly to right-centerfield that allowed Mason to score. A passed ball one batter later permitted Thompson to dash home, giving Duke a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Three innings later, Duke topped off its offensive output by adding one run on a double by Jerdan, which seemed to deflate an already-frustrated Tar Heels team.
"Hitting goes in streaks, so I tell my guys that you have to keep pressure on people," Hillier said. "You don't want the opposing pitcher to get a chance to settle in. I hope we can keep hitting it well because our bullpen is starting to get better."
Nonetheless, UNC continued to nag the Blue Devils. But four hits by the Tar Heels in the final four innings proved to be inconsequential, as Duke relievers Zach Schreiber and Kevin Perry caused five North Carolina runners to be stranded in successive innings. Closer Jeff Alleva finished out Carolina in the final two innings to garner his seventh save of the season.
Incidentally, Alleva's save yesterday was his second in a row, as the sophomore pitched two innings Saturday to secure right-hander Ryan Caradonna's 9-7 victory against the Tar Heels. In that game, Duke battled back from a five-run deficit to overtake North Carolina for the first time in 12 games. The win was especially gratifying for Duke considering that it had wasted a seven-run lead Friday in a 10-7 loss to UNC.
By winning the series, Duke not only regained bragging rights from the Tar Heels on the baseball diamond, it also secured a triumph in the first ever Carlyle Cup competition.
"We ought to get a crystal mug from the Carlyle Company," Hillier joked.
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