University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Flack Pilots No. 1 Tar Heels Past Duke, 8-2
April 29, 2006 | Baseball
April 29, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore first baseman Chad Flack hit a pair of home runs and extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games, and junior right-hander Robert Woodard allowed just two runs over eight strong innings to lead No. 1 North Carolina to an 8-2 victory over Duke Saturday at Jack Coombs Field. The Tar Heels (38-8, 17-6 ACC) have now won nine straight Atlantic Coast Conference games and 15 of their last 17 overall.
Saturday's victory also gives Carolina the 2005-06 Carlyle Cup, the all-sports competition between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils. UNC outdistanced Duke, 14-12, to claim the cup for the second straight academic year.
Flack went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI for the 10th multi-hit game over his current hitting streak. After a first inning single, Flack hit homers in back-to-back trips to the plate in the second and fifth innings and closed out the day with an RBI double in the ninth. Flack's four hits marked a career high after 13 three-hit outings over the last two seasons. With six RBI in the series, Flack now has driven in 21 runs over the last 12 games and now has 41 on the season.
Catcher Tim Federowicz also had three hits on the afternoon, while designated hitter Benji Johnson, who hit two home runs Friday, added a pair of hits. Shortstop Josh Horton singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to eight games. Left fielder Kyle Shelton scored a career-best three runs on the afternoon.
Woodard, who lowered his ERA to 3.21, scattered eight hits over eight innings to run his record to 5-1 on the season. He struck out two and walked just his third batter over the last 25.2 innings. The Charlotte native is now 21-3 in his career and currently sits tied for ninth on the Tar Heels' career win list. Sophomore Tyler Trice fanned two over a scoreless ninth inning.
Duke starter Jonathan Anderson (3-6) allowed 10 hits over just 4.2 innings and was charged with five earned runs. Reliever Andrew Wolcott came on with two out in the fifth and set down the first seven Tar Heels he faced before Federowicz led off the eighth with a double. Shortstop Brett Bartles had two hits to lead the Blue Devils (14-32, 6-17 ACC) at the plate.
Carolina scratched for three runs in first on successive RBI singles from Federowicz, right fielder Jay Cox and Johnson. Shelton reached on an error to lead off the game, and Flack followed with a single to waste little time extending his hitting streak. Horton sacrificed both runners in scoring position before Federowicz singled home the first of the three runs.
Flack took over from there to extend the Tar Heels' lead to 6-0 after five. He followed a two-out single by Shelton with a two-run shot to left in the second and hit a solo homer to nearly the same spot in the fifth for his second career multi-homer game and first since May 10, 2005 against Winthrop.
Duke got on the board in the sixth on an RBI double by Bartles and trimmed the lead to 6-2 in the seventh on a pinch-hit run-scoring double by Tim Sherlock off Woodard.
The Tar Heels stretched the lead back to six runs in top of the ninth on Flack's RBI double and a sacrifice fly by Matt Spencer.
With Saturday's win, Carolina has now posted a run of nine consecutive ACC wins for the second straight season. The Tar Heels last won more than nine consecutive games in conference play with 12 straight over the 1983-84 seasons. Carolina will go for its 10th consecutive ACC win and its third straight league sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday. Junior righty Daniel Bard will be on the hill for the Tar Heels.
