Another day, another win for the hot-hitting No. 6 UNC baseball team.

Friday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, the Tar Heel offense broke a 2-2 tie with a five-run sixth inning–powering UNC to an 11-2 win over the rival Duke Blue Devils.

UNC has now won three in a row after having an 11-game win streak snapped last Sunday against Pittsburgh.

The Tar Heels are 15-2 so far this season and have scored in double digits in seven of its last nine games.

Junior starting pitcher Zac Gallen (3-0) struck out 10 Duke hitters across seven innings of four-hit ball for his second double-digit strikeout game in 2016.

Duke also received a solid performance from its junior starting pitcher, Bailey Clark, but falls to 10-8 with the loss.

Zack Gahagan drove in four runs for UNC as the Tar Heels defeated his cousin, Duke starting pitcher Bailey Clark. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)

Zack Gahagan drove in four runs for UNC as the Tar Heels defeated his cousin, Duke starting pitcher Bailey Clark. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)

Clark–the cousin of UNC infielder Zack Gahagan–went five innings and allowed only four hits just like Gallen, but hurt his own cause with a pair of errors on pickoff attempts early in the game.

After the second of those errors sent Kyle Datres to second base with two outs in the third inning–junior center fielder Tyler Ramirez singled up the middle to put UNC ahead 1-0. It was the Tar Heels’ first hit of the game.

Not wanting to be outdone in the family affair, Gahagan went 3-for-5 in the game with four RBIs, including an RBI groundout in the fourth off of Clark–a play that followed Duke’s third error.

UNC was able to chase Clark in the top of the sixth by having its first three hitters in the frame reach base. The Blue Devils also committed their fourth error during that time.

Second baseman Eli Sutherland, who finished the night 2-for-3 with two walks, ended Clark’s outing with an RBI single that put UNC ahead 3-2.

Two batters later, Gahagan drove in two runs with a solid double off reliever Mitch Stallings and the rout was on.

Datres and fellow freshman Brandon Riley also added RBI hits during the big sixth inning.

In total, six different Tar Heels drove in at least one run and all of those players had at least one of their RBIs come after the fifth inning–as UNC firmly asserted its dominance against the Blue Devil bullpen.

After tacking on one run in the seventh, the Tar Heels scored three more in the top of the eighth.

UNC then got a pair of scoreless relief innings on the mound from junior AJ Bogucki to finish the deal.

Up Next:

Game two of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, but could be affected due to rain in the forecast.

Game Notes:

  • Kyle Datres did not record a hit, but he walked three times and picked up an RBI groundout.
  • Duke finished with five errors and only four hits–truly an impressive accomplishment.
  • Gallen was one shy of his career-high in strikeouts (11), which he set in the season opener at UCLA this year.
  • UNC first baseman Brian Miller–hitting .403–sat out with an illness. Gahagan started in his place.
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