The Duke offense finally broke through on Sunday, lifting the Blue Devils to a 9-2 victory over the 11th ranked UNC baseball team at Boshamer Stadium in the final act of their three-game series. The loss is North Carolina’s first in ACC play in 2015, dropping its record to 2-1 in conference and 10-4 overall. As for Duke, it earned its first conference win, improving to 1-2 in the ACC and 11-3 for the year.

In a surprise move, the Tar Heels decided their scheduled starter, senior Benton Moss, needed more rest. So Coach Mike Fox and his staff decided to call on sophomore AJ Bogucki to try and get the job done.

“Moss is not ready to pitch right now,” Fox says, “If he was available to pitch, he would have pitched today. We’ll find out a little more about what’s going on with him probably the first of this week.” Coach also added that they believe it may be a forearm issue, but he didn’t have any other details.

Despite not recording a hit in the first inning, it would not take long for the Blue Devils to chase Bogucki from the game.

Sophomore AJ Bogucki did not have his best day making the start for Benton Moss. (UNC Athletics)

With two outs in the top of the second, Duke catcher Mike Rosenfeld singled up the middle to score third baseman Jack Labosky. After a passed ball sent Rosenfeld to second base, he was sent home when Justin Bellinger’s liner dropped into right-field, handing the team from Durham an early 2-0 lead.

UNC pitching coach Scott Forbes wasted no time heading to the mound, replacing Bogucki with Spencer Trayner, who struck out second baseman Andy Perez to end the inning.

Three errors by the Duke infield in the bottom half of the second allowed Carolina to get one run back off of their starter, sophomore Bailey Clark. UNC had runners on first and second with no outs after an error by Blue Devil shortstop Kenny Koplove let Alex Raburn cross the plate, but Clark escaped the jam without giving up anything more.

Duke senior catcher Mike Rosenfeld led the Blue Devil attack, going -

Duke senior catcher Mike Rosenfeld led the Blue Devil attack, going 3-4 with an RBI. (GoDuke.com)

Coming into the game with a fantastic 1.35 ERA, Clark continued his high level of play on Sunday, tossing eight innings while giving up just one earned run and four hits. He also struck out six.

“He came right at us, pounded the zone, and we knew he threw a lot of fastballs coming in, so that’s kind of what we looked for,” says UNC second baseman Alex Raburn, “He had a good outing. We didn’t really perform today. I guess that’s what it comes down to.”

Missing Moss proved to be crucial for the Tar Heels, as Peter Zyla and Justin Bellinger each hit two-run doubles for Duke in a third inning where the Blue Devils scored more runs (four) than they had in the previous two games combined (three).

To put the “loss of Moss” into perspective, Zac Gallen pitched seven innings on Friday, JB Bukauskas went six on Saturday, and Sunday UNC used four pitchers just to get through the first three.

They would end up going through eight arms in total, a number that could have been higher if not for strong outings from Trevor Kelley and Jason Morgan. Kelley pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in his third straight game with a relief appearance, while Morgan made his first career college appearance and threw 2.2 scoreless to reach the end of the game.

Afterwards, Kelley spoke about what allowed him to have success individually against the Blue Devils all weekend.

“I got in Friday, got in yesterday, so I kind of became familiar with their line-up,” Kelley says, “They’re all over the plate, so I knew bustin’ them in early in the count would open up my off-speed (pitches).”

Freshman first baseman Zack Gahagan provided the lone bright spot of the day for Carolina, hitting his second home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh.

Unfortunately the solo shot did not have much effect on the outcome, as it only slimmed Duke’s lead to 9-2, where it would stay until the end, as UNC didn’t get another hit for the rest of the game.

Coach Fox took a big picture approach to the loss.

“We had a good week. If you win every series, you know you’re gonna host a regional (in the NCAA tournament),” Coach says, “So that’s probably what I’ll go in there and tell (the players) just to make them feel a little bit better. It is important to win the series, and it’s important to win a series at home, especially.”

The Tar Heels close out the series with a 183-100-2 record all-time against Duke in baseball.

Up Next:

It’ll be time to hit the road again for the Tar Heels as they head to Conway, South Carolina for a game with Coastal Carolina set to begin at 4 P.M on Tuesday. Starting pitchers have not been announced.

Game Notes:

  • Duke hit 6-11 with runners in scoring position (.545).
  • UNC’s Zack Gahagan and Duke’s starting pitcher Bailey Clark are cousins. Gahagan homered off of Clark in the seventh.
  • The Blue Devils recorded 12 hits on Sunday after getting just 14 combined on Friday and Saturday

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