When the No. 23 UNC baseball team opens its three-game ACC series with the Boston College Eagles Friday night at Boshamer Stadium, Zac Gallen will be returning to the mound on which he delivered the two finest performances of his young pitching career against his team’s two biggest rivals.

For the majority of the season, the sophomore from Gibbsboro, New Jersey has spear-headed the dominant UNC weekend rotation, helping the team reach its current 26-15 overall record and 10-10 conference mark.

Boston College comes into Chapel Hill this weekend not far behind the Tar Heels in the tight conference standings–at 9-11 in the ACC and 22-18 against all competition—which is why Gallen (2-3, 3.31 ERA) knows it’s important to get his team off to a good start by pitching well in the Friday series opener.

In the first ACC game of the year, Gallen struck out 12 Duke hitters while picking up the win. (UNC Athletics)

“It’s huge. I mean, when you lose that Friday [game] it’s like ‘man, [our] backs are against the wall’,” Gallen says, “So it’s good to put the pressure on early…especially with the position we’re in, in the ACC, we’re right in the thick of things.”

“Every game we play on Friday is a battle,” he adds.

A part of the starting rotation for 17 games in 2014 as a freshman, you would think penciling his name in this year as part of a competition among pitchers fighting for a starting role would have been just a formality, but with the addition of hard throwing freshmen JB Bukauskas and Hunter Williams, head coach Mike Fox decided to try something else early on in the year.

“Zac’s a good example,” says Coach Fox, “We started the season, and he wasn’t one of our weekend guys—he was all last year as a freshman. He didn’t pout. He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t pout and he pitched great out of the bullpen…and then for one reason or another we’re having to [start] him in our first ACC game.”

After making two appearances in relief against Seton Hall and UCLA, Gallen got his first start of the year in the season’s third week against Rhode Island due to the loss of closer Reilly Hovis–an injury that forced Coach Fox to shuffle junior Trent Thornton from the weekend rotation into his current bullpen role.

In that game, Gallen went six innings and struck out a then career-high nine hitters, despite being credited with the loss.

The stage was set then, for the sophomore to get a chance to pitch in the team’s aforementioned ACC opener against its cross-town rival, the Duke Blue Devils.

He did not disappoint either, this time earning a win, while going seven innings and picking up yet another career-high in strikeouts with 12—a number that has yet to be matched by any other Tar Heel this season, prompting Coach Fox to issue a strong statement afterwards.

Great pitch control is what sets Gallen apart from his peers in the Tar Heel dugout. (UNC Athletics)

Great pitch control is what sets Gallen apart from his peers in the Tar Heel dugout. (UNC Athletics)

“I’m hoping all the other pitchers just take a look at that,” Fox said about Gallen’s situation after he mowed down the Duke lineup, “Be prepared.”

The main difference between this year’s Zac Gallen and last year’s Zac Gallen, according to the man himself, is a shiny new toy he installed in his repertoire during the off-season.

“I picked up a cutter this summer. I just happened to be [playing] catch with a buddy and just kinda picked it up. I just felt a good angle on my ball,” Gallen says, adding that “I feel good staying in the lower half of the [strike] zone, which is helping out a lot.”

When he’s out on the mound pitching, Gallen gives off an aura of confidence without needing to say anything at all.

His one, singular, focus is on throwing strikes–something that never wavered throughout the tough times he faced, says junior Korey Dunbar, who has been the catcher behind the plate in each of Gallen’s starts.

“I think with him moving to the bullpen at the start the season, he kinda came out [in the starting rotation] with a chip on his shoulder. It’s shown and he’s done a really good job,” says Dunbar.

“He’s the type of guy that’s not gonna show a lot of emotion on the mound, he’s just in command of everything. That’s his huge thing is command.”

Keeping his fastball-cutter combination in the strike zone has been the key to success for Gallen since the year began.

To illustrate the type of control Gallen exhibits, the New Jersey native has started 25 games for Coach Fox since arriving in Chapel Hill, and has never walked more than three batters in a game.

Now think about this–UNC drew five walks in the first inning against Virginia Tech starter Jon Woodcock last Saturday, and drew another four against Campbell starter Heath Bowers in Tuesday’s first inning.

“He’s a strike thrower,” says Coach Fox on Gallen’s control, “He gets us into the sixth and seventh inning, which is what you want on Fridays. I think he’s pitched well. He’s really only had one bad outing.”

Against Pittsburgh on the road in early March, Gallen set career highs in walks (three) and runs allowed (eight), while only making it through 3.2 innings.

To this day, it remains Gallen’s only start of the season to not last five innings or longer.

Gallen's teammates congratulate him after his complete game vs. NC State. (UNC Athletics)

Gallen’s teammates congratulate him after his complete game vs. NC State. (UNC Athletics)

But a month later, in another rivalry start, against NC State in front of a sell-out home crowd and a national television audience, he provided yet another stroke of magic—going all nine innings to preserve a 2-1 Tar Heel victory, in a game that went right down to the wire.

Coach Fox couldn’t help but crack a smile after that game–one which the official team Twitter account declared “Gallentine’s Day“.

“It’s mind-boggling to me that we had him pitching in relief the first [two] weekends of the season. He wasn’t even one of our first three starters,” Fox said with a chuckle, “We laugh about that now.”

Despite picking up a loss last weekend at Virginia Tech, Gallen was solid for the first five innings, allowing just one run during that time, before eventually giving up four in the sixth to earn his spot on the bench.

As the season progresses into its final stages, and more importantly tournament time, Coach Fox will need his starting rotation to continue carrying the bulk of the load in order to have a chance to make a serious run at his seventh College World Series appearance.

And of course, as the Friday man, that all begins with Zac Gallen.

Boston College has won five games in a row and will present the UNC right-hander with a stiff test in the series opener. The Eagles will likely send 6’3” sophomore Mike King to the mound to face-off with Gallen—which should make for an interesting match-up, as King threw a complete game of his own last Friday against No. 24 Georgia Tech, shutting the Yellow Jackets out en route to tossing a one-hitter.

First pitch for Friday’s pitching showdown at Boshamer Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m., with all three games in the series set to be shown on ESPN3 and broadcast live on 97.9 FM, WCHL.