NC State baseball tops UNC in 'Duel at the DBAP'

Patrick Bailey hit a home run early. Evan Edwards hit another one late.

N.C. State’s 8-3 over North Carolina on Tuesday in Durham looked a lot like its sterling season thus far. The Wolfpack (29-7), ranked No. 2 in one national poll and No. 4 in another, has the best record in the ACC (13-5) and the long ball has been a big reason.

Bailey and Edwards pushed the team’s season total to 56, which leads the ACC and ranks in the top 5 nationally. It was enough, with a piecemeal pitching effort, to kick off a nine-game stretch against in-state opponents, even though this one doesn’t count in the conference standings.

“It’s what we’ve been,” N.C. State coach Elliott Avent said. “We’re not a one-dimensional team, by any means, but power is our big asset.”

Bailey’s two-run shot in the second inning gave the Wolfpack the early lead, and Edwards’ three-run shot in the ninth closed the door on the Tar Heels (24-13), who had come into the game with 10 wins in their past 12 games.

But State’s bats left little room for UNC to take the first game between the rivals at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park since an 18-inning classic, won by UNC, in the 2013 ACC tournament.

A crowd of 6,799 came out for the midweek showcase, the “Duel at the DBAP” put together by Avent and UNC coach Mike Fox as a way to promote the college game and boost their respective strength of schedule.

UNC (12-6 ACC), ranked No. 9 in the RPI and trailing first-place Duke by a half of a game in the Coastal Division, was down 5-1 before it tightened the game in the eighth inning.

Three relatively inexperienced pitchers — Reid Johnston, Evan Justice and Mathieu Gauthier — combined to work six innings and gave up only three hits and two runs.

“Our pitching staff did a great job of attacking guys and using their best stuff to get guys out,” said Bailey, the freshman catcher who finished with three RBIs.

Ashton McGee’s two-out, two-run single cut N.C. State’s lead to 5-3 in the eighth. UNC had runners on first and third but reliever Kent Klyman got Cody Roberts to strike out swinging.

Edwards added the insurance with a three-run homer in the ninth.

It was the ninth midweek win by the Wolfpack this season in as many games. It also kicked off a stretch where N.C. State will see the Tar Heels again next weekend in Raleigh, for the regular three-game ACC set, a three-game series with Duke and a midweek game with East Carolina on Tuesday.

“It definitely didn’t feel like a midweek game tonight when you have this type of crowd and this type of opponent,” Bailey said.

There was only one way to describe the game, the atmosphere and the upcoming schedule, Avent said.

“It’s fun,” Avent said. “You live for this. If you like what you do, and you really want to do it, then you live for this.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 9:36 PM with the headline "NC State baseball tops UNC in 'Duel at the DBAP'."