The Tar Heels (45-12, 21-9) lost their opening game as a No. 2 seed for the second year in a row and have now dropped six consecutive ACC tournament games since 2004.
Duncan moved to 7-4 on the year as he matched his season-high effort of eight innings. After giving up back-to-back, run-scoring singles in the fourth inning, he allowed just one hit and two walks over the next 4 2/3 innings.
The No. 7-seeded Yellow Jackets (32-23, 15-14) scored four runs in the seventh inning to take the lead at 6-3 as they took advantage of three singles, three walks and a hit batter off four Carolina pitchers in the inning. Seven Carolina pitchers combined to issue a team season-high 11 walks.
Patrick Long led Tech's 11-hit attack with three singles and a walk while driving in one run. Matt Wieters and Chris House each had a pair of hits and two RBI while Wally Crancer added two hits and one RBI for the Yellow Jackets.
"I was very proud of the way our team played today," said head coach Danny Hall. "I think that North Carolina is a great ball club and I told Mike (Fox) after the game that we have a great chance to see them again in Omaha. They are a great team and that is how good their pitching is. We struggled a little, especially the last weekend coming into this week, but I feel like we are capable of beating anyone on any given day. If we pitch well, like we did today, then we have a chance to get to their bullpen. We had a few clutch hits by Wally (Crancer) and Patrick (Long). It was a good game for us and hopefully gives us some momentum going into tomorrow's game against Virginia."
2007 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
Georgia Tech vs #3 North Carolina
May 23, 2007 at Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, Fla.
Georgia Tech 8 (32-23)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Danny Payne cf/p......... 4 2 1 0 2 0 3 0 0
Michael Fisher ss........ 3 1 0 0 3 0 2 4 0
Matt Wieters c........... 5 0 2 2 0 0 4 0 4
Wally Crancer rf......... 4 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 2
Luke Murton dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Curtis Dupart lf........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Patrick Long 2b.......... 4 1 3 1 1 0 2 2 0
Tony Plagman 1b.......... 3 1 1 1 1 0 9 0 0
Brad Feltes 3b........... 3 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 2
Chris House lf/cf........ 4 1 2 2 1 0 5 0 3
David Duncan p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 34 8 11 8 11 1 27 9 13
North Carolina 4 (45-12)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Reid Fronk lf............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Garrett Gore 2b.......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0
Kyle Seager ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Dustin Ackley 1b......... 4 1 1 0 0 0 10 1 0
Tim Federowicz dh/p...... 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Josh Horton ss........... 3 1 1 0 0 1 3 3 0
Chad Flack 3b............ 4 0 2 1 0 0 3 1 1
Tim Fedroff rf........... 3 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
Benji Johnson c.......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3
Kyle Shelton ph......... 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Seth Williams cf......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2
Drew Poulk ph........... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adam Warren p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Matt Danford p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rob Wooten p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rob Catapano p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tyler Trice p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B.J. Dail p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 33 4 7 3 3 3 27 9 7
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Georgia Tech........ 000 110 402 - 8 11 1
North Carolina...... 010 200 001 - 4 7 1
-------------------------------------------
E - Feltes, B.(8); Horton, J(12). DP - Georgia Tech 1; UNC 2. LOB - Georgia
Tech 13; UNC 7. 2B - Plagman, T.(11); Fedroff, T(5). HBP - Plagman, T.;
Fronk, R. SH - Murton, L.(1); Horton, J(3). SF - Wieters, M.(5). SB -
Ackley, D(8).
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
David Duncan........ 8.0 5 3 2 3 2 28 33 113
Danny Payne......... 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 5 5 10
North Carolina IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Adam Warren......... 4.1 4 2 2 4 0 15 20 80
Matt Danford........ 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 5 6 29
Rob Wooten.......... 0.0 1 3 3 2 0 1 3 18
Tim Federowicz...... 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 3 4 22
Rob Catapano........ 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
Tyler Trice......... 1.1 2 2 2 3 0 6 9 42
B.J. Dail........... 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 4 5 23
Wooten faced three batters in the 7th.
Catapano faced one batter in the 7th.
Trice faced two batters in the 9th.
Win - Duncan, D. (7-4). Loss - Wooten, R (3-1). Save - None.
HBP - by Duncan, D. (Fronk, R); by Catapano, R (Plagman, T.). Inherited
runners/scored: Danford, M 2/1; Federowicz,T 3/3; Catapano, R 2/0; Trice, T 3/1;
Dail, B.J. 2/2. Pitches/strikes: Duncan, D. 113/73; Payne, D. 10/9; Warren, A
80/42; Danford, M 29/14; Wooten, R 18/7; Federowicz,T 22/13; Catapano, R 4/1;
Trice, T 42/24; Dail, B.J. 23/11.
Umpires - HP: Randy Harvey, Jr. 1B: Mark Chapman 2B: Steve Manders 3B: Dennis McComb
Start: 1:32 pm Time: 2:59