Zatkowski's Career Day Lifts Duke to Series Win Over NC State Sunday

Sunday, March 30

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

19-10, 7-5

NC State

18-10, 5-4

NC State

Duke

Zatkowski's Career Day Lifts Duke to Series Win Over NC State Sunday

3/30/2025 4:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman Henry Zatkowski tossed a career-high six innings on Sunday afternoon, as Duke (19-10, 7-5 ACC) run-ruled NC State (18-10, 5-4 ACC), 16-6, at Jack Coombs Field. The series win over the Wolfpack was the Blue Devils' first since 2014.

Zatkowski improves to 3-1 on the season, allowing two runs on three hits and punching out four batters. He was efficient in his outing, tossing 80 pitches on the day. Zatkowski was perfect through his first 11 batters of the contest before Josh Houge hit a solo home run to break up the perfect game.

Duke immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning, as Macon Winslow singled to right field to score Ben Miller. Kyle Johnson doubled down the line in right to score a pair, before AJ Gracia scored on an error, 5-1.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Winslow added another RBI with a bases-loaded walk, before Ben Rounds flew out to center field to score Jake Hyde. Duke scored four runs in the frame to extend its lead to 9-1. NC State didn't go away easily, cutting into the lead in the sixth and seventh innings, 9-4. The Blue Devils offense went back to work in the seventh, adding three runs, before run-ruling the Wolfpack on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by Wallace Clark in the bottom of the eighth inning.

HOW IT HAPPENED

NC State opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning, 1-0.
Duke responded in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Macon Winslow singled to right field to score Ben Miller. Kyle Johnson doubled down the line in right field to score a pair, before AJ Gracia scored on an error, 5-1.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Winslow walked with the bases loaded before Ben Rounds flew out to center field to score Jake Hyde. Duke added two more runs in the frame, 9-1.
The Wolfpack cut into the lead in the top of the sixth inning, 9-2.
NC State continued to cut into the lead in the top of the seventh inning, 9-4.
Duke added to the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Rounds scored on an error and Gracia doubled to left to score Johnson. Jake Berger flew out to center field to score Gracia from third, 12-4.
The Blue Devils walked off NC State with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

NOTES

Duke secured its first series victory over NC State since 2014, taking the final game of the series 16-6 at Jack Coombs Field.
Senior Wallace Clark extended his reached-base streak to 29 games on Sunday, being hit by a pitch in the first inning. Clark was hit by two pitches, moving him into a tie for fourth all-time on Duke's career hit-by-pitch list with Michael Rothenberg (2018-21).
Graduate Ben Miller extended his hitting streak to 12 games on Sunday, the longest on the team. He finished the afternoon 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Blue Devils improved to 230-50 (.821) when scoring three-plus runs in an inning since 2016.
Duke scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, batting around for the ninth time this season.
Since 2023, Duke improved to 45-1 when scoring 10-plus runs in a game, including 9-0 in 2025.
Freshman left-hander Henry Zatkowski tossed a career-high six innings for Duke, allowing two runs on three hits and punching out four batters. Zatkowski becomes the first Duke pitcher this season to eclipse five innings of work. Duke also had quality starts each of the three contests against NC State this weekend.
Five Blue Devils recorded multiple hits on Sunday as Jake Hyde (3), Tyler Albright (2), Macon Winslow (2), Ben Rounds (2), and AJ Gracia (2) tallied that mark. Gracia posted a season-high four RBI in the win.

QUOTES

"I told our guys I thought that was as good of a job at executing situational offense as I have seen a team have. We executed whatever the situation called for offensively in so many different ways. Using the bunt, using the drag, using the fly ball, using the ground ball, whatever we had to do to get the situation done. I told them that when you are sold out to do things the right way, the game rewards you. What you saw is that in an effort to do things situationally, we got rewarded with some base hits. The story of the ballgame is Henry Zatkowski. We thought one time through the lineup, three innings, but he had them so off balance, and we decided to ride him." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the offensive approach and the job Henry Zatkowski did to give Duke six innings on the mound.

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