UNC-Duke Rivalry Hits the Diamond

It’s UNC-Duke Week in Chapel Hill, and while most of the attention is on Saturday night’s basketball game, Coach Mike Fox and his 8-3, 11^th ranked, Tar Heel baseball squad will also host a very talented Duke team. The Blue Devils will bring a 10-1 record into Friday’s opener.

Although they aren’t typically seen as a baseball powerhouse, head coach Chris Pollard has the Blue Devils currently on quite a roll,  as Duke brings a nine-game win streak into Boshamer Stadium.

Coach Fox says he’s well aware of the challenge in front of the Tar Heels this weekend.

Duke head coach Chris Pollard deserves a lot of credit for turning their program into a winner. (GoDuke.com)

“I think we’re gonna have our hands full,” Fox says, “I mean Duke’s played really well so far this pre-season. They’ve pitched exceptionally well. They’re gonna run three guys out there at us that are really, really good, and if we don’t match them on the mound, and if we don’t play good defense, we’re gonna have our hands full as I said.”

One of those great Duke pitchers is 6’6” junior Michael Matuella, considered by many pro scouts to be a lock for the first round of the MLB draft. He’ll likely start on Friday, but UNC sophomore outfielder Adam Pate says his team is confident in their game-plan against the big righty.

“He’s really talented, he’s really, really good, and obviously gonna be probably a first-rounder. Our approach to that is going to be to make him work, try and get his pitch count up, and try to get to their bullpen as soon as we can,” Pate says, adding that “When it comes to the match-up game I think we can play against just about anybody in the country.”

Senior Benton Moss has been the Tar Heels’ ace this year, with a 2-0 record and 27 strikeouts in just 15.2 innings pitched. However, it’ll be Zac Gallen on the mound in the opener, as Coach Fox says, “It looks like right now we’re gonna have to push Moss back a day. I think Coach Forbes pretty much made that decision, so it’s probably gonna be Zac Gallen (pitching Friday).”

Commenting on why the move was made, Fox was very brief, saying “Just a precaution, that’s kind of all I want to say.”

First pitch for the series will be thrown at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Both weekend games will start at 2 p.m.

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