By R.L. Bynum
DURHAM — If there was any question about No. 7 North Carolina’s worthiness for a national seed in the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels removed all doubt on Saturday.
The Tar Heels pounded No. 11 Duke 14–6 before plenty of Carolina fans at Jack Coombs Field for their eighth win in the last nine games, heading into next week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte, where they will be the No. 1 seed.
With a top-eight NCAA seed, UNC would host a regional and, if it advances, a super regional.
“They definitely play with a chip on their shoulder,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “A lot of people have said that a lot of teams are better than us, especially in this league. We feel like we’ve got a lot of tradition. We’ve got a great program. These guys want to continue to prove that. We’ve done something but we really haven’t done something. That’s the message I’ll tell our guys.”
Forbes wanted his team to approach the series as if it was a super regional.
“You’ve got to find a way to win it. You’ve got to dig deep,” Forbes said. “I thought they did.”
Left fielder Casey Cook led the offensive onslaught, going 3 for 5 with a double, a home run and five RBI in a game that ended amid a downpour.
Cook, like Forbes, isn’t reveling in what UNC has already done and is looking ahead.
“We’re just gonna keep playing our brand of baseball,” Cook said. “The regular season is done. We did good things and I think you can pull a little bit of confidence out of that. But postseason, it’s a it’s a new season, so we’re gonna approach it like any other game. I like where we are, so I’m excited about it.”
UNC (41–12, 22–8 ACC) showed plenty of resiliency after a tough loss in the series opener on Thursday with an impressive response in the final two games to win an ACC series for the first time this season after losing the opener.
Cook had a lot to do with turning the series around, going 5 for 9 in the series’ last two games.
“We weren’t really doing what we’re capable of doing the first day,” Cook said. “We started to get a little hot the second day and then this is what we’re capable of doing. So it’s good to see it all come together in the last game.”
Also giving the offense a big boost in Saturday’s series finale was senior designated hitter Alberto Osuna, who went 2 for 4 with three RBI.
“I think it just shows the perseverence that we have that we’re gonna just keep on playing and keep on going,” Osuna said. “Obviously losing [Thursday] night was tough but to be able to bounce back was huge for us.
Carolina, with a seven-run third, a four-run fifth, and a three-run eighth, backed the excellent pitching of junior right-hander Aidan Haugh, who overcame early control issues to strike out six in 4⅔ innings. He had never walked more than four in a game this season, but after walking three in the first two innings, he didn’t issue any more walks.
Haugh battled out of a bases-loaded first-inning jam that started when a 3–2 pitch that appeared to be a strike that would have ended the inning was called a ball. After giving up a single and another walk, he struck out center fielder Devin Obee.
In the second inning, though — after a hit by pitch, walk and wild pitch — Duke scored on second baseman Zac Morris’ one-out sacrifice fly to right-center field. Haugh struck out third baseman Ben Miller to leave a runner stranded at third.
“I thought Haugh getting out of that inning with only one run, battling his command a little bit and only giving up two runs early was big for us,” Forbes said. “Obviously, our hitters responded well today and I thought our pitching staff, for the most part, did really well against a really powerful team.”
Matthew Matthijs (winner, 12–4) came in for Haugh and pitched 1⅓ innings of shutout relief with two strikeouts to tie for the national lead in victories.
In the third inning, Carolina seized control against Duke right-hander Fran Oschell III, its third pitcher of the game. Oschell faced seven batters: three walked, two got hits and six scored.
Cook gave UNC the lead, lacing a 3–2 pitch between Miller and shortstop Wallace Clark, who both dove for the ball. The hit with one out and the bases loaded scored two. First baseman Parks Harber struck out but took first on a wild pitch to score another run.
Oschell (lower, 0–2) exited after a walk to reload the bases, but right-handed reliever Jimmy Romano didn’t provide the Blue Devils with any relief. Osuna ended an 0-for-10 skid by lining a two-out, three-run double to left-center on Romano’s second pitch, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Alex Madera’s groundout.
Duke (35–18, 16–14) got one run back on first baseman Logan Bravo’s two-out solo home run to center field in the third inning, but UNC added four in the fifth. Right-fielder Anthony Donofrio hit a double down the right-field line and scored on Madera’s suicide-squeeze bunt. Catcher Luke Stevenson added a two-run triple to left field.
UNC reliever Ben Peterson loaded the bases in the seventh on a walk and two singles. Matt Poston relieved him and gave up designated hitter Alex Stone’s sacrifice fly and Bravo’s RBI single.
Cook responded for Carolina with a three-run home run just to the left of the right-field foul pole.
Duke added a run in the ninth inning on an RBI single to center by Andrew Yu off UNC reliever Cameron Padgett.
NOTES — The ACC will announce the tournament schedule on Sunday morning, but Forbes said he’s leaning toward UNC playing its round-robin games on Thursday and Friday. As the No. 1 seed, that’s UNC’s choice. … The seven-run third inning was the sixth time UNC has scored at least seven runs in an inning and the third time in ACC play. The biggest inning of the season was the 11-run first inning against Princeton on March 1, and the biggest inning in a league game was eight in the second inning against Louisville last Sunday. … Duke gave up double-digit runs for the seventh time. … It was the Tar Heels’ 12th ACC game with double-digit runs and 25th overall. … Carolina has won five consecutive series with Duke and leads the all-time series with Duke 194–108–3, including 77–45–1 in Durham. … Forbes is 8–4 against Duke. … Saturday’s game attracted 1,863 fans. … Stone has a 12-game hitting streak.
No. 7 UNC 14, No. 11 Duke 6
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 16 Georgia Tech | 19–11 | — | 39–16 |
| No. 6 Florida State | 17–10 | ½ | 37–13 |
| No. 3 North Carolina | 18–11 | ½ | 39–12 |
| No. 22 N.C. State | 17–11 | 1 | 33–18 |
| No. 14 Clemson | 18–12 | 1 | 41–15 |
| Virginia | 16–11 | 1½ | 32–17 |
| Duke | 17–13 | 2 | 36–18 |
| Wake Forest | 16–14 | 3 | 36–19 |
| Miami | 15–14 | 3½ | 31–23 |
| No. 21 Louisville | 15–15 | 4 | 35–20 |
| Notre Dame | 14–16 | 5 | 32–20 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–18 | 7 | 30–24 |
| Boston College | 11–19 | 8 | 26–28 |
| Stanford | 11–19 | 8 | 27–24 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–20 | 9 | 27–26 |
| California | 9–21 | 10½ | 22–30 |
Thursday-Saturday series
No. 16 Georgia Tech at Duke: Thursday: GT 7–6; Friday: Duke 14–4 (7 innings); Saturday: GT 8–2
No. 14 Clemson at Pittsburgh: Clemson swept 6–1, 11–2 and 13–6
Virginia at Virginia Tech: Thursday: Va. 12–2; Friday: VT 5–4; Saturday: Va. 3–1
Stanford at No. 22 N.C. State: Thursday: State 7–2: Friday: Stanford 4–3, 10 innings; Saturday: Stanford 6–3
Wake Forest at Louisville: Thursday: WF 14–4; Friday: WF 5–4; Saturday: UL 14–9
No. 3 North Carolina at No. 6 Florida State: Thursday: UNC 8–3: Friday: UNC 11–1, 7 innings; Saturday: FSU 5–4
Notre Dame at Miami: Thursday: ND 3–2; Friday: Miami 15–1, 7 innings: Saturday: ND 12–2
Boston College at California: Thursday: Cal 8–6; Friday: BC 10–9; Saturday: Cal 4–3, 10 innings
UNC scores
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 14–15 | Fri.-Sat. | W, 5–1; W, 8–3; W, 4–2 | vs. Texas Tech | 3–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 12–9 | vs. Kansas State | 4–0 |
| 22–24 | Sat.-Mon. | W, 2–0; W, 11–6; W, 6–4 | vs. East Carolina (DBAP, CH, G’ville) | 7–0 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 7–4 | vs. VCU | 8–0 |
| 26 | Wednesday | W, 13–4 | vs. N.C. A&T | 9–0 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 16–2 | vs. Stony Brook | 10–0 |
| March | ||||
| 1–2 | Sat.-Sun. | W, 6–1; W, 9–5 | vs. Stony Brook | 12–0 |
| 4 | Tuesday | W, 6–4 (11) | vs. No. 11 Coastal Carolina | 13–0 |
| 7–9 | Fri.-Sun. | L, 13–9; W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0 | vs. Stanford | 14–2, 1–2 ACC |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 7–3 (10) | at UNCW | 15–2 |
| 14, 16 | Fri., Sun. | L, 8–7; W, 6–4; L, 5–0 | at Louisville | 16–4, 2–4 |
| 19 | Wednesday | L, 5–1 | vs. UConn | 16–5 |
| 21–23 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–1; L, 3–2; W, 10–0 (7) | at Boston College | 18–6, 4–5 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 13–8 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 19–7 |
| 28–30 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 2–0; W, 4–2; L, 4–2 | vs. Miami | 21–7, 6–6 |
| April | ||||
| 1 | Tuesday | W, 11–1 (7) | vs. Gardner-Webb | 22–7 |
| 3–5 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 4–3; L, 9–5; W, 8–7 (14) | vs. Duke | 24–8, 8–7 |
| 8 | Tuesday | W, 12–10 | at Elon | 25–8 |
| 11–13 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 11–1 (7); W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2 | vs. Wake Forest | 28–8, 11–7 |
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 14–4 (8) | vs. Charlotte | 29–8 |
| 18–20 | Fri-Sun. | W, 9–6; L, 10–6: W, 7–5 | at Virginia Tech | 31–9, 13–8 |
| 25–27 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 15–5; L, 4–2; W, 6–0 | at Pittsburgh | 33–10, 15–9 |
| 29 | Tuesday | W, 13–4 | vs. George Mason | 34–10 |
| 30 | Wednesday | W, 14–3 | vs. Queens | 35–10 |
| May | ||||
| 6 | Tuesday | W, 10–1 | vs. Campbell | 36–10 |
| 8–9 | Thurs.-Fri. | W, 8–1; L, 8–5 | vs. N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 7 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham | |||
| 23 | Friday | Quarterfinal: W, 7–3 | Boston College | 40–12 |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal: W, 7–5 | No. 7 Florida State | 41–12 |
| 25 | Sunday | Final: W, 14–4 | No. 14 Clemson | 42–12 |
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 30 | Friday | W, 4–0 | Holy Cross | 43–12 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 11–5 | Oklahoma | 44–12 |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | L, 9–5 | Oklahoma | 44–13 |
| 2 | Monday | W, 14–4 | Oklahoma | 45–13 |
| Chapel Hill Super Regional | Best-of-3 series | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 18–2 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–13 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 10–8 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–14 |
| 8 | Sunday | L, 4–3 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–15 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
tarheeltribune.com 