Miami baseball beats Duke 7-6, ACC Tournament semifinals next

The Miami baseball team rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Andrew Walters closed it out for a 7-6 win over Duke. Miami wins Pool D with a 2-0 record. Regular season ACC Champion and national number one Wake Forest is next for Miami in the ACC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday.

The Miami baseball team had already clinched a spot in the semifinals with a 4-2 win over North Carolina State. Miami held the tiebreaker in Pool D entering the game on Friday with Duke. The Miami victory over Duke who was 20th in the RPI entering Friday’s game was an important resume builder for the NCAA Tournament.

Miami rallied three times from a deficit on Friday afternoon. Duke took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Miami scored two in the bottom of the first to surge in front. Duke scored one in the top of the fifth inning and two in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. Miami scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at four.

Luke Storm hit his second home run of the game in the top of the eighth inning for Duke to put the Blue Devils in front 6-4. A C.J. Kayfus home run in the bottom of the eighth cut the Duke lead to 6-5. Yohandy Morales homered two batters later to tie the game. Renzo Gonzalez got the game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth.

Andrew Walters earned his second save in less than 24 hours with a scoreless ninth inning for the Miami win. The ACC announced Miami will play Wake Forest at Boshamer Stadium on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill instead of Durham Athletic Park due to rain forecasted Saturday afternoon.

Clemson will play North Carolina in the other ACC Tournament semifinal on Saturday. Both games will commence at 1 PM ET. The semifinal winners are scheduled to play on Sunday at noon at Durham Athletic Park. Wake Forest swept Miami in Winston-Salem in March. The NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket will be released on Monday.