By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Fourteen innings, the most in a UNC-Duke game in nearly 61 years, were more than enough for Alex Madera.

He hit a chopping grounder on the 466th pitch, and the ball took a bounce off the glove of Duke second baseman Jake Berger and into the outfield. The error scored Tyson Bass (top photo) from second base to give No. 19 North Carolina a marathon 8–7 victory at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday to take two of three from the Blue Devils for the sixth consecutive series win against Duke.

“Unbelievable game,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “One of the better ones I’ve been involved in, period. Just back and forth, back and forth, two really good teams, tough teams. We did enough. That was a pure team toughness win if I’ve ever seen one.”

Bass drew a leadoff walk, and Perry Hargett bunted him to second base before sprinting home to clinch the third consecutive ACC series win for UNC (24–8, 8–7 ACC) after losing the first two.

“That’s just a big win for us,” Forbes said. “Gives you some momentum. Another tough week ahead.”

Through five hours and 15 minutes, Carolina kept giving itself a chance with stellar pitching, other than some speed bumps and hiccups in the ninth inning. Three freshman right-handers — Walker McDuffie, Ryan Lynch and Camron Seagraves — pitched six relief innings, and a pair of graduate pitchers — Tom Chmielewski and Cade Bolton — combined to throw 2⅔ innings.

Sophomore Folger Boaz (winner, 2–0), UNC’s seventh pitcher, elicited an inning-ending double play in the top of the 14th.

“To put up that many zeros? That’s a really good balanced offense that doesn’t strike out a lot,” Forbes said. “That is very gratifying to see those guys rewarded.”

UNC used seven pitchers, and Duke (21–12, 8–7) used eight.

Three consecutive Duke singles off Seagraves blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning. But after eliciting an inning-ending double play, Seagraves rebounded by retiring the six of the last seven Blue Devils (including six in a row), including four strikeouts, coming out after giving up a walk to lead off the 12th inning.

“That’s something big we talk about; just forget about whatever’s happened in the past, not worrying about what’s to come,” Seagraves (right) said. “Got that double play ball, got out of it. Got back in the dugout, was just focusing on the next inning, getting out there and getting the first guy out.”

With junior right-hander Matthew Matthijs out after having an MRI Saturday and his status still unclear, Forbes had to depend on the rest of the bullpen to do the job.

“We felt good about all of them,” Forbes said. “We felt like not only had they worked, but they were ready for this moment. The plus is, when you have two grads, they pitched a ton. Cam, he’s just a true freshman, and he’s rolling out there, and the game on the line.”

Red-hot UNC second baseman Jackson Van De Brake led the Tar Heels’ 13-hit attack, with a career-high four hits and an RBI to finish the series 7 of 13. Madera went 2 for 4 with two RBI.

The teams traded early two-run homers, with UNC catcher Luke Stevenson belting an opposite-field shot 362 feet to left field in the first inning and Duke center fielder AJ Gracia pulling one to right field in the second inning. UNC retook the lead in the second when Bass led off with a single to left and scored on Macaddin Dye’s sacrifice fly.

Duke took advantage of defensive mistakes in the fourth inning after left fielder Tyler Albright led off with a single. He advanced to third on Van De Brake’s throwing error and scored on Madera’s fielding error, which left the bases loaded. UNC starter Aidan Haugh (5 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts) got the next three batters out, but a run scored on a groundout gave Duke a 4–3 lead.

Haugh battled for much of his five innings and threw 105 pitches (the most pitches in his two seasons as a Tar Heel), leaving two runners stranded in his last two innings.

Duke’s starter, left-hander Henry Zatkowski, exited after giving up a double and walk to start the sixth inning. Against left-handed reliever Reid Easterly, UNC took the lead on Madera’s RBI single to left (above). Hargett reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on a wild pitch to give UNC a 5–4 lead.

Carolina added two insurance runs in the eighth when Bass led off with a single and on an error off a Madera grounder. Madera later scored on Van De Brake’s two-out RBI single.

McDuffie gave up only one hit in 2⅔ innings, but Lynch came out after walking the first two batters in the ninth inning.

Chmielewski, a Princeton transfer, came on to get out of the 12th with the potential tying run at third with a fly out to end the inning. Bolton, a Liberty transfer in his first appearance in nearly a month and third this season, struck out two and got out of the 13th inning with the go-ahead run at second base.

NOTES — Carolina plays at Elon at 6 p.m. on Tuesday (Flo Sports). The Phoenix (10–20) lost 13–12 at William & Mary on Saturday for their fifth consecutive loss, and plays the Tribe again on Sunday. … Next weekend, UNC hosts Wake Forest for a three-game series starting at 7 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network). The Deacons (22–10, 8–6) beat Florida State 12–0 on Saturday and will meet the Seminoles again on Sunday before hosting UNCG on Tuesday. … It was the longest UNC-Duke game in terms of time since a 5-hour, 8-minute game March 29, 2014, a 9–8 12-inning Blue Devils win. … Van De Brake batted second for the second time this season (also March 19 against UConn) and after hitting eighth in the opener and fourth in Friday’s game. He’s hit in every spot in the order except leadoff and third. The only Tar Heel to bat in the same position every game is lead-off man Kane Kepley. … It was the 11th extra-inning game in the UNC-Duke series, and the longest since UNC’s 6–2 14-inning victory April 21, 1964. … UNC leads the all-time series with Duke 202–108–2, including 113–48–1 in Chapel Hill. … With 15 ACC games left, UNC is already one loss away from matching last season’s total. … UNC honored Dustin Ackley before the game. … Duke was 2 of 7 with the bases loaded.

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No. 19 UNC 8, Duke 7, 14 innings

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Date(s)	Day/ month	Time/ score	Opponent (current rank)	TV */ 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. 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 No. 14 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
10–12	Thu.–Sat.	7, 6, 1	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN/ESPN2 (Thur./Sat.)
15	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. Charlotte
18–20	Fri.–Sun.	7, 3, 1	at No. 25 Virginia Tech	ACCN (Sunday)
22	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. Presbyterian
25–27	Fri.–Sun.	6, 3, 1	at Pittsburgh
29	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. George Mason
30	Wednesday	6 p.m.	vs. Queens
	May
6	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. Campbell
9–11	Fri.–Sun	6, noon, 1	vs. N.C. State
13	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. UNCW
15–17	Thu.–Sat.	6, 6, 2	at No. 9 Florida State	ACCN (Thursday)
		ACC tournament
20–25	Tue.–Sun.	Single-elimination event	Durham Bulls Athletic Park
30–31	Fri.–Sat.	NCAA regionals	Campus sites
	June
1	Sunday	NCAA regionals	Campus sites
6–8	Fri.–Sun.	Super Regionals	Campus sites
18–30	Wed.–Mon.	College World Series	Omaha, Neb.

* Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ACC Network Extra.

Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics