Each Friday night during this college baseball season UNC fans are treated to what’s known around Boshamer Stadium as “Gallentine’s Day”–the chance to see junior starting pitcher Zac Gallen work his magic.
This particular Friday, Gallen–who has now officially embraced being called “The Milkman”–decided to take it up a notch.
The Gibbsboro, New Jersey native delivered perhaps the best performance of his career against Virginia Tech, throwing all nine innings in the No. 13 Tar Heels’ 6-0 victory over the Hokies at the Bosh.
In doing so, Gallen gave up just four hits and struck out a career-high 13 batters–the first UNC pitcher to do so since current New York Mets All-Star Matt Harvey, now referred to by some as “The Dark Knight,” fanned 15 Clemson Tigers back in 2010.
Gallen was nearly unhittable, frustrating Hokie hitters all night long. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)
Coming off a huge upset loss on Wednesday to UNC-Asheville, the Tar Heels got the boost they needed to avoid losing to a Virginia Tech squad that has lost 16 games in a row and boasts a record of just 10-21 (1-12 ACC).
UNC jumps to 22-8 with the victory, and goes back above .500 in the ACC standings at 7-6 in league play.
Gallen–known for his ability to keep the ball in the strike zone–threw strikes on an astonishing 80 of his 118 pitches in the game. The righty also picked up his fourth win of the season (4-2) after running into some tough luck over the last two weekends against Georgia Tech and Miami, teams that UNC went a combined 1-5 against–including his only two losses of the year.
“That’s something [UNC sophomore pitcher] JB [Bukauskas] and I were talking about in the outfield the other day at practice,” Gallen said after the game. “He was just like, ‘Hey man everything feeds off of you.’
“So that’s just kinda my job on Friday night is to set the tone and leave the door open for those next two guys that are gonna throw [Saturday and Sunday].”
Helping Gallen’s cause offensively for the Tar Heels was freshman infielder Kyle Datres.
Benched against UNC-Asheville on Wednesday due to his struggling bat, Datres was put back into the lineup as the designated hitter–the first time he’d occupied that role in his college career.
He responded by going 2-for-3 with a home run–another career first–and two RBIs.
Sophomore Brian Miller drove in UNC’s first run of the game with an RBI single in the third, but Datres’ solo shot in the fourth is what pumped energy into the crowd.
“It felt really good,” Datres said. “I was in a little slump there, took a couple games off. Been working on my swing the last couple weeks, so to get that out of the way means a lot.”
Kyle Datres (right) celebrates his first career home run with catcher Cody Roberts (left). (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)
Datres’ RBI single in the bottom of the sixth gave Gallen a 3-0 lead, which would prove to be plenty of cushion.
UNC didn’t let up on the gas though, as it doubled that advantage with a three-run eighth–highlighted by Zack Gahagan’s two-run single, which he drilled into right field.
Gallen came back out for the ninth to a large ovation, but put his complete game hopes in jeopardy by allowing a single to the lead-off man.
Had he not struck out the next three hitters, UNC head coach Mike Fox said he was ready to make a change given Gallen’s high pitch count.
“These guys are going six days of rest between starts,” Fox said. “I don’t know exactly how much he threw last Friday, but that was probably his last batter [tonight].”
The coach then smiled. “But I won’t tell him that.”
Instead the junior finished off his first complete game of the season, and second of his career. This type of performance has become the norm for Gallen, who has started to make his name well-known in Chapel Hill.
The next step?
Making that nickname,”The Milkman,” stick.
“It’s fine by me,” he said of the moniker. “A nickname, it’s an honor, especially when you play at a place like this.”
Up Next:
UNC will see the Hokies again on Saturday night, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
Game Notes:
- The Tar Heels are now 29-2 in their last 31 games against Virginia Tech.
- Right fielder Adam Pate joined Datres as the only other UNC player to record at least two hits. Pate went 2-for-3 with a double.
- Gallen’s ERA dropped to 1.93 after the win.
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