5/13/2018 baseball Edit

Carolina Avoids Sweep With 8-6 Win Over Duke

Ike Freeman and the Heels got their bats going on Sunday afternoon to top Duke in the series finale. (UNC Athletic Communications)

UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM – No. 3 North Carolina took down No. 9 Duke, 8-6, on Sunday afternoon to maintain a game and a half lead in the ACC Coastal Division over the Blue Devils. Tyler Baum picked up his fourth win of the season as Ike Freeman and Brandon Riley combined for five hits and drove in four RBI to lead the Tar Heels offensively.

As they did in the first two games of the series, Duke got on the board first. This time it was courtesy of a Griffin Conine solo home run in the second inning for the 1-0 advantage.

Carolina responded with two runs of their own in the third inning to take the 2-1 lead, the first Tar Heel lead of the series. With two outs, the Tar Heels plated five batters beginning with a double to left field by Cody Roberts. After a walk to Brandon Riley, Ike Freeman singled to left field to bring home the first run of the day. With runners on first and second, a balk by the Duke pitcher put two runners in scoring position for Ashton McGee who singled up the middle to bring home the second Carolina run.

The Tar Heels tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead. With two outs, Carolina plated five batters, but the damage was done by Riley with a single up the middle on his first pitch to drive home two runs for the 4-1 edge. Freeman followed with a single to left field on his first pitch for the third and final run of the inning.

In the fifth inning, Carolina looked to break the game open with three more runs, but Duke answered with three of their own as the Tar Heels held the 8-4 advantage.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, a two-run home run from Duke cut the Tar Heel advantage to 8-6, but Josh Hiatt picked up his fourth save of the season as the Heels went on to pick up a big win.

Tyler Baum picked up his fourth win of the season after tossing five innings and striking out four Blue Devils while Brett Daniels threw 3.2 innings of relief and struck out five to set up Hiatt for the save.

The Tar Heels will be back in action on Tuesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. as they travel to Wilmington to take on UNCW.