University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Maples Homers Twice To Lead Carolina Past Blue Devils, 8-3
May 11, 2002 | Baseball
May 11, 2002
DURHAM - Chris Maples hammered his ACC-best 20th and 21st home runs to lead North Carolina to an 8-3 win over Duke Saturday evening at Jack Coombs Field in the first of a three-game ACC baseball series with the Blue Devils. Playing their first game since May 1 after breaking for final exams, the sixth-ranked Tar Heels won for the ninth-straight time at Duke and have won 11 of their last 12 games overall to improve to 36-15, 14-5 in the ACC. Duke falls to 21-28, 3-16 in the conference.
Carolina starter Scott Autrey (4-2) pitched eight strong innings, his longest outing of the season, and allowed three runs on three hits while striking out five for the win. After collecting just one win in his first nine outings of 2002, Autrey has won three of his last four starts and has posted 15 strikeouts compared to just one walk in those three wins. Duke's Paul DeMarco (2-3) allowed four runs on four hits and walked six in four innings for the loss.
"I thought Scott (Autrey) was the key to the game, coming out real sharp on the mound," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "I think scoring early in the game also helped us. We were very aggressive and got a couple of big swings of the bat again from Chris (Maples). He's just been phenomenal for us."
For the 29th time this season, the Tar Heels scored in the first inning, with Maples driving in Russ Adams with a single to left field for a 1-0 UNC lead.
In the third, Maples connected on his first home run of the day, a two-run shot to left, to give the Tar Heels a 3-0 advantage.
The Tar Heels took a 5-0 lead into the sixth inning, before the Blue Devils pulled within 5-3 on a three-run homer by Blue Devils slugger Larry Broadway. Duke had managed just two hits through the first 5.1 innings against Autrey, before Brian Patrick and Kevin Kelly hit one-out singles and Broadway sent the ball over the wall in right-center field.
Maples sent the first pitch of the seventh inning out of the park and Chris Iannetta homered two batters later, the eighth of his freshman season, as UNC answered with two runs to extend its lead to 7-3. Maples now has 21 home runs in 2002, three shy of tying the UNC single-season record of 24 set by Devy Bell in 1986. Maples has also established a new Carolina record with 43 extra base hits this year. Jarrett Shearin previously held the mark with 42 in 1998.
"To come right back and get two runs right after the three-run homer was huge to get the momentum back in our dugout," Fox said. "It's the sign of a good team to keep pecking away."
Sean Farrell drove in UNC's final run on a one-out single in the eighth inning to cap the scoring at 8-3.
The Tar Heels and Blue Devils are back in action Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and conclude their series Monday at 7 p.m.
