Blue Devils even series

DURHAM -- There were another 33 hits at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday.

And for the second day in a row, there was a single-inning explosion.

Duke had more power and posted eight runs in the sixth inning in a 15-11 win over North Carolina, evening both team's first ACC series of the season.

The Blue Devils (10-4, 1-1 in the ACC) outhit the Heels 17-16.

On Friday, North Carolina won 21-9, scoring nine runs in the third inning, and outhit Duke 21-13.

"I think we have a lineup that feeds off each other pretty well," Duke coach Sean McNally said. "Hopefully this will build confidence going into [Sunday]."

Last year, Duke had one of its biggest conference series against North Carolina, taking the final two games of the series at Boshamer Stadium.

In that series, Duke center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms belted a three-run homer that was part of a seven-run inning that the Heels couldn't overcome in the final game. That was the Blue Devils' first series win over the Heels since 2001.

This time, the sophomore outfielder cranked another three-run homer, in the third inning, and then ripped his ACC-best fifth triple of the season to lead off the fifth inning, scoring on first baseman Jeremy Gould's sacrifice fly to right field, which gave Duke a 7-5 lead.

"I'm being real aggressive on the bases," Piwnica-Worms said. "I'm spraying that right-field gap and just not stopping at second."

Duke shortstop Jake Lemmerman also had three hits and a three-run homer, sending an 0-2 fastball towering over the Blue Monster with no outs in the sixth. Duke went on to score eight runs in the inning to take a 15-6 lead.

Lemmerman said the hitting was "contagious," noting the first four Duke batters had hits in the sixth.

"It's not something that you think is going to happen," Lemmerman said. "You take it one batter at a time. They were trying to paint us away. We got up on the plate and took that away."

But the Tar Heels (12-3, 1-1) kept hitting the ball, and posted three runs in the seventh and a pair of runs in the ninth.

"We needed to pitch the ball better," said North Carolina coach Mike Fox, whose staff has seven freshmen.

North Carolina left fielder Ben Bunting scored three runs on a pair of hits. Bunting, along with North Carolina infielders Tommy Coyle and Levi Michael, made up the top of the team's order. Coyle and Michael both hit 3-for-5 and each had a pair of RBIs.

Attendance was reported at 2,572, a majority wearing Carolina blue. The series finale starts at 1 p.m. today.