It was a very important weekend for Duke Baseball and they came out on top when all was said and done against rival North Carolina.
It was the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels that came into the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to take on the No. 13 Duke Blue Devils in a critical three-game set that would go a long way in determining the ACC Coastal Divison Champion.
It was Mitch Stallings on the hill for the Blue Devils while Cooper Criswell took the mound for North Carolina.
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Both pitchers received no decisions, but it was the Blue Devils who struck first on Friday night.
Duke was on the board in the 2nd inning thanks to a Griffin Conine homerun.
Things remained scoreless until the 5th inning when the Blue Devils struck for two more runs, despite having to use their challenges.
With one out in the inning, Kennie Taylor singled. He attempted to steal second and was called out, but after review, the call was overturned. Then with two outs, Jimmy Herron singled and Taylor tried to score from second but was called out again.
The Blue Devils challenged again, and again the call was overturned and Duke took a 2-0 lead.
Chris Proctor then came to the plate and singled home Herron as the Blue Devils seized control, going up three runs.
It didn’t take long for things to turn for the worse for the Blue Devils as Carolina responded with three runs in the 6th inning.
However, Duke came right back with two runs of their own in the 7th inning.
As the Blue Devils loaded the bases with, Zach Kone stepped to the plate and smacked a single down the left field line, bringing home two.
As the Blue Devils went back up 5-3, they held Carolina at bay in the 8th and came back for some more insurance runs in the home half of the 8th inning.
With runners on first and second, Kennie Taylor legged out a triple putting Duke up 7-3.
Ethan DeCaster (5-0) took the win for Duke and Jack Labosky (9) secured the six out save. Joey Lancellotti (3-4) took the loss for Carolina.