Duke's Ninth-Inning Rally Falls Short on Tuesday

Thursday, April 3

Chapel Hill, NC

7 p.m.

Duke University

20-11, 7-6

North Carolina

23-7, 7-6

Duke

North Carolina

Duke's Ninth-Inning Rally Falls Short on Tuesday

4/3/2025 10:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Duke's (20-11, 7-6 ACC) ninth-inning rally fell short on Thursday evening at Boshamer Stadium, as a double play ended the ballgame, 4-3, to No. 19 North Carolina (23-7, 7-6 ACC).

Junior Owen Proksch gave Duke a strong four-inning outing on the mound, allowing three runs and punching out five, falling to 1-1 on the season. The Tar Heels opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, before Tyler Albright gave the Blue Devils the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Albright launched a two-run home run to right center field, his fifth of the season.

North Carolina responded in the bottom half, scoring a pair of runs to regain the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, 3-2. Graduate Reid Easterly settled the game for Duke, covering three innings of one-hit baseball.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Tar Heels extended their lead, as an error scored a run, 4-2. In the top of the ninth Albright reached on a passed ball, before Macon Winslow drew a walk and Ben Rounds was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Senior Andrew Yu drove in Albright to cut into the Tar Heels lead, before a double play ended the ballgame, stranding the tying runner on third.

HOW IT HAPPENED

North Carolina opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, 1-0.
Duke responded in the top of the fourth inning, as Tyler Albright hit a two-run home run to right center field, 2-1.
The Tar Heels regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, 3-2.
North Carolina added to the lead in the bottom of the eighth, 4-2.
Duke answered in the top of the ninth, as Andrew Yu grounded into a fielder's choice to score Albright from third, 4-3.

NOTES

Junior Tyler Albright extended his hitting streak to 11 games on Thursday, hitting a two-run home run to give Duke the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Albright holds the longest-hitting streak on the team this season.
Senior Wallace Clark had his 30-game reached base streak come to an end on Thursday, finishing 0-for-4
Junior Owen Proksch dropped his first game of the season, working four innings, allowing three runs on four hits, and struck out five. He falls to 1-1 on the season.

QUOTES

"It was a really good college baseball game. It was a great atmosphere for a Thursday night and two good teams going head-to-head. I thought that Owen Proksch gave us a great competitive fight early, but they took advantage of some free offense. Reid Easterly did a terrific job of keeping the ballgame within striking distance. It was some bad luck on Jake Berger in the eighth. That is the play to get you off the field and it's a one-run game and that last inning could have played out very differently. We had our chances there in the top of the ninth. We had a good gameplan coming in against Knapp and I thought we executed it pretty well. Our approach and at-bats were a lot better than what the box score would indicate." – Head coach Chris Pollard on his overall thoughts on the ballgame.
"No question. We flushed Lynch out of the game and forced them to bring in McDuffie. It got them on their heels a little bit and I like the way we competed through the end of the ballgame." – On being able to force North Carolina to use extra arms in the ninth.