Duke uses explosive 5th inning to crush NC State 8-1 to clinch ACC Tournament semifinal berth

Duke uses three-homer fifth inning to run away from the NC State Wolfpack and advance to ACC Semifinals.

This Duke offense can turn the heat up on anyone. And if there’s a likely culprit doing damage in the middle of it, his name is probably Zac Morris.

That was the case on Thursday night as the Blue Devils used an explosive fifth inning and ran away from their fellow Triangle rivals, the NC State Wolfpack.

Duke and NC State battled it out in Charlotte for the right to advance to the ACC Tournament Semifinals in a win-or-go-home scenario. Only one team could advance from Pool C, and it was whoever walked out with two wins on Thursday night.

Sophomore starting pitcher Andrew Healy was a tone-setter for the Blue Devils as he came right out and had an uneventful one-two-three inning to kick the game off. He settled into a groove and ended his night throwing five innings of shutout baseball. He struck out four batters and walked none on a very economical 59 pitches.

During the top of the fifth inning, his teammates decided to help him out. Left fielder Chase Krewson took NC State’s Sam Highfill the opposite way for a solo home run to put Duke up 1-0. Devin Obee and Wallace Clark singled, and Highfill walked All-ACC freshman Kyle Johnson to load the bases.

Zac Morris, who already had a team-high 17 homers for the season, then took a 1-2 pitch deep to left-center field for a grand slam.

Ben Miller flew out before AJ Gracia got in on the action with a solo home run himself. Like that, Duke was up 6-0, and they never looked back.

Krewson would walk to start the sixth inning, and Devin Obee hit a laser of a line drive that was initially ruled a double before an umpire’s review deemed it a home run, giving Chris Pollard’s team an 8-0 lead.

James Tallon and Tim Noone combined for four innings of one-run ball to close the game, and Duke would eliminate NC State from the ACC Tournament.

From now on, the ACC tournament will be single elimination, so Duke will remain in do-or-die mode. Duke will have Friday off before taking on the winner of Pool D, Virginia, or  Florida State on Saturday at 5 p.m.