UNC baseball defeated Duke in a three-game series, winning two games and losing one. The Tar Heels showcased their strength in the rivalry, especially after a recent series win against Georgia Tech.
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 14: Gavin Gallaher #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels waits for the pitch during the second inning against the California Golden Bears at Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium on March 14, 2026 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Scott Marshall/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After taking a massive series over Georgia Tech last weekend, this past weekend saw UNC baseball making the short trip over to play Duke in Durham. Baseball isn’t the sport the rivalry is most known for, but the Blue Devils have put some pretty good teams together in recent years, even if they haven’t quite matched that in 2026.
While they couldn’t quite take all three games, the Tar Heels ended up passing the rivalry test, as they took two out of three on the road this past weekend.
Thursday: UNC 3, Duke 1 (box score)
Starting pitcher Jason Decaro starred in the series opener, as his 7.2 very good innings allowed UNC’s offense to do just enough to get the win.
Runs were fairly hard to come by for UNC as well, as they held just a 2-0 lead going into the late innings. Those runs came courtesy of RBI hits from Owen Hull in the third and Jadyn Nunez in the sixth. However, they didn’t need to do much work because of how DeCaro was dealing.
DeCaro kept the Blue Devils off the board for the first seven innings, allowing just one hit and two walks in that time. He then got the first two outs of the eighth before allowing a couple singles. At that point, UNC went to the bullpen. A throwing error did allow one Duke run to score, but reliever Walker McDuffie managed to escape the inning with UNC still in front. After that, the offense tacked on one more run and held on for the win.
For the day, DeCaro allowed just that that one unearned run on three hits and two walks in 7.2 innings, striking out seven.
UNC won two out of three games against Duke in their recent series.
UNC secured victories with scores of 3-1 in the first game and another win in the series, demonstrating strong performance.
While not as prominent as in other sports, the rivalry is still significant, with both teams competing fiercely for regional pride.
Prior to facing Duke, UNC had a strong series against Georgia Tech, which boosted their confidence heading into the rivalry matchup.
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Friday: Duke 3, UNC 1 (box score)
Duke flipped the score on Saturday, as they used three first inning runs to take control and come away with the win.
Ryan Lynch got the start for UNC in this one and got two quick outs to start the game, but then allowed two singles. The next play then featured both runners and the batter scoring, although through not much fault of Lynch. Right fielder Carter French and second baseman Gavin Gallaher both committed errors on the same play, allowing three runs to score
Those three runs ended up holding, as Duke’s Peter Lemke had a strong outing himself. UNC eventually got on the board in the eighth when Tyler Howe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but that ended up being the only run the Heels scored on the day.
Lynch ended up putting in a perfectly solid day himself, with those three runs going down as unearned, and him not allowing anything else otherwise.
Saturday: UNC 22, Duke 5 – 7 innings (box score)
UNC’s offense bounced back in a big way in the series finale, though. They put up 22 runs to run-rule Duke and take the series.
Despite the final score, Duke actually took a lead in this one, as they scored in the bottom of the first and kept the Tar Heels off the board through the second inning. However, once UNC got going, they did not stop.
Led by hits from Gallaher and Hull, UNC scored three runs in the third to take the lead. Duke then did answer back to tie the game, but the Tar Heels then put up a seven spot in the fourth, with Hull chipping in more with a three-run homer.
Already in double digits, Carolina proceeded to put up 12 more runs over the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. Gallaher also added to his earlier hit, and finished with a team-leading six RBI on the day. Only one UNC position player to appear in the game failed to get on base at least once, and the exception only got one at-bat, having come off the bench late in the game.
Looking ahead to this week, UNC have a fairly marquee midweek game, as they’re set to host last year’s national runner-up Coastal Carolina, who are highly ranked this year too. After that, they’ll welcome Queens to town, before once more facing Duke — this time in Chapel Hill — in a one-off game on Sunday.