University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Errors Prove Costly For Carolina In 4-2 Loss
April 24, 2004 | Baseball
April 24, 2004
Durham, N.C. - The No. 18 North Carolina Tar Heels lost their first road game at Duke since 1996 Saturday night at Jack Coombs Field, 4-2. The Blue Devils took advantage of some costly defensive mistakes by UNC and a strong outing from starting pitcher Zach Schreiber (4-3) to even the weekend series at one. Carolina starter Garry Bakker (3-4) was the hard-luck loser, allowing only one earned run on five hits in 6.1 innings. Duke's Greg Burke pitched the final two innings to pick up his second save of the season.
The Tar Heels got off to a quick start when junior right fielder Marshall Hubbard hit a two-run homer over the left center field wall off Schreiber in the top of the first. The blast was Hubbard's 13th of the season and extended his hitting streak to a season-high 13 games.
The Blue Devils threatened in the bottom of the fourth when second baseman Bryan Smith singled up the middle, stole second and advanced to third on a Chris Iannetta throwing error with no one out. Duke came up empty, however, as Bakker fielded a sharp comebacker from Corey Whiting and struck out John Berger and Kyle Silver to end the rally.
Duke scratched in the sixth when Whiting's two-out bloop single dropped in front of left fielder Mike Daniel, scoring designated hitter Tim Layden from second.
The Blue Devils took the lead for good in the seventh on a pair of unearned runs. Center fielder Jonathan Anderson reached on a Matt Ellington error to lead off the frame and came around to score on an RBI double by ACC batting leader Javier Socorro. After Scott Senatore struck out Layden for the second out of the inning, catcher Brian Hernandez singled up the middle off Whitley Benson to plate Socorro.
Duke added to its lead in the eighth when Berger homered to left off Adam Kalkhof, his first of the season. Kalkhof's appearance was his first in an Atlantic Coast Conference series this season as well as his first in relief in the 2004 campaign.
With the loss, Carolina falls to 30-11 on the season, 10-7 in ACC play. Duke improves to 22-19, 7-7 in league play. The two teams will meet to decide the series Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
