Thursday at the first annual Bark at the Bosh night—where fans at Boshamer Stadium were allowed to bring their dogs to watch some baseball—the No. 4 Tar Heels couldn’t quite find their own bark in a 3-2 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the series opener.

UNC—now 18-3 this year, with a 5-2 record in the ACC–gave its ace, junior starting pitcher Zac Gallen, an early 1-0 lead, but struggled to produce after that.

In most of Gallen’s other starts this season, that lead may have been enough. The ACC’s strikeout leader, Gallen threw 92 pitches over five innings in the shortest outing of his season, while his five strikeouts were also the least he’d put together all year.

“They just have a good approach,” Gallen said after the game. “They foul pitches off, so you have to make a pitch every time. I didn’t really do that too well tonight.

A pair of difficult fielding plays provided the difference for the Yellow Jackets in the fifth inning. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)

A pair of difficult fielding plays provided the difference for the Yellow Jackets in the fifth inning. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)

“I had trouble putting guys away,” he continued. “They just found holes.”

The Yellow Jackets moved to 17-4 and 4-3 in the conference using that patient approach to eventually do what no other team has been able to do against Gallen this year—break through.

After an 11-pitch at-bat in the fifth inning by catcher Arden Pabst set the table, Georgia Tech ended up plating all three of its runs in the frame. Shortstop Connor Justus drove in Pabst with a single of his own two batters later.

The next two runs were scored after UNC second baseman Eli Sutherland had trouble handling a potential inning-ending double play ball, and then later misfired on a difficult throw to first.

That one inning, in the mind of UNC head coach Mike Fox, changed the game.

“Obviously the fifth inning did us in,” Fox said. “You gotta give them credit. They moved the ball, but it’s a typical ACC game where it’s a small margin of error and you’ve gotta make plays and get a key base hit.

“They did it, we didn’t.”

Offensively the Tar Heels managed just six hits in the game against Georgia Tech starter Brandon Gold.

Three of them were by one player—sophomore shortstop Logan Warmoth. After hitting his second double of the game in the seventh inning, Warmoth came around to score on an RBI single by the freshman, Riley.

Fans and dogs alike were hoping for a comeback and the team’s fifth walk-off win of the year, but it was not to be on this day—as reliever Matthew Gorst shut UNC down to record the final five outs.

As much as any loss stings, Gallen—a team captain—was optimistic afterwards, saying he expects the Tar Heels to respond well.

“We got a good clubhouse environment,” Gallen said. “Guys will be back on the horse tomorrow. I’m not worried about that.

“Hopefully they don’t get too down on themselves, and we’ll be back tomorrow.”

Up Next:

These two teams will return to action at Boshamer Stadium on Friday, with first pitch set for 5 p.m. That scheduling is a change from the original start time, which was 7 p.m. A potential conflict with UNC’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament game is what caused the switch.

Game Notes:

  • Junior center fielder Tyler Ramirez, UNC’s leading hitter at .443 entering Thursday, went 0-for-4.
  • Relievers Brett Daniels (3 IP, 2 H, 4 K) and AJ Bogucki (1 IP, 1 H, 2 K) held the Yellow Jackets scoreless over the final four innings.
  • It was just the third time all year the Tar Heels had trailed after six innings. The team is 1-2 in those games. (The team’s other loss came when UCLA walked off with a run in the bottom of the ninth)
  • The amount of dogs in attendance was estimated to be about 75. Human attendance was estimated at 2,452.

 

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