CHAPEL HILL—Some days, the opposing pitcher has his best stuff and there just isn’t much to be done about it offensively.
Friday was one of those days for the Blue Devils.
Riding the right arm of sophomore Zac Gallen, No. 16 North Carolina ended Duke’s nine-game winning streak with an 8-1 victory at Boshamer Stadium. Gallen stymied the Blue Devils all game long with his precise fastball location, tossing seven innings in which he allowed only four hits and recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts.
Gallen exited after yielding a leadoff double to Jalen Phillips in the eighth and was charged with one unearned run when Phillips scored on a wild pitch later in the inning, but stole the show in the first Tobacco Road matchup of the season.
“I thought [Gallen] threw exceptionally well. Obviously we swung and missed way too much,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “His M.O. was that he was basically away, away, away until he got to two strikes—and then he would come inside with two strikes. He froze some guys and we just have to do a better job of being ready to spoil those pitches.”
Even in the early going, it was evident that runs would be at a premium with both pitchers on top of their games. Each offense mustered just one hit through the first three innings, with neither side providing any serious scoring attempts. Gallen struck out the side in the first and racked up seven punchouts in the first three frames, while Duke starter Andrew Istler was a bit more economical—using just 35 pitches to record his first nine outs—but no less dominant.
The Blue Devils (10-2, 0-1 in the ACC) had a great chance to take the lead in the top of the fourth inning, when designated hitter Cris Perez led off with a ground-ball double down the left field line. For the first time in the game, Duke had the leadoff man on against Gallen, but it was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The Gibbsboro, N.J., native worked around a walk to catcher Mike Rosenfeld to escape the jam unscathed, ending the threat by recording back-to-back strikeouts with runners on first and second.
The missed opportunity would quickly come back to haunt the Blue Devils, as the Tar Heels (9-3, 1-0) broke through in the bottom of the frame, sending seven men to the plate and pushing two runs across to give Gallen (1-1) a 2-0 lead. A pair of infield singles just beyond the reach of second baseman Andy Perez followed by a four-pitch walk set North Carolina up with the bases loaded and nobody out.
From there, Istler (1-1) did his best to minimize the challenge—yielding a sacrifice fly to cleanup batter Tyler Ramirez and an RBI fielder’s choice to first baseman Adrian Chacon—but prevented the big hit that could have broken the game open. The game was still within reach with Duke trailing 2-0, but that slim margin was all Gallen would need.
“I just tried to carry over last weekend [a six-inning, one-run, nine-strikeout effort],” Gallen said. “I felt really good establishing my fastball, and staying on the inner half of the plate. I felt that if I established the inner half then I could get to the outer half, so I felt good.”
North Carolina gave Gallen even more support by tacking on single runs in each of the next three innings, beginning with an RBI single from center fielder Skye Bolt—who finished 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs—with one out in the fifth. Ramirez led off the sixth with a blast to center field that turned around Duke freshman Evan Dougherty, resulting in a triple. Junior Alex Raburn promptly followed up with a deep sacrifice fly to left that extended the North Carolina lead to 4-0.
Istler was relieved by 6-foot-10 southpaw James Ziemba after running into some trouble in the seventh, but a Landon Lassiter RBI single pushed the score to 5-0. Istler finished with a final line of five earned runs in 6.1 innings, numbers that Pollard believes belie a solid performance.
“I thought Andrew threw the ball well. I thought his stuff looked really live, but he was victimized a little bit by soft contact,” Pollard said. “We need to do a better job of keeping the leadoff guy off the bases. We did that early on and then in the later innings they continued to get the leadoff man on and obviously that gave them a lot more opportunities. But I thought his stuff was good and I don’t think Andrew pitched poorly at all.”
The two squads will continue the series Saturday at 2 p.m., with junior ace Michael Matuella set to take the ball for the Blue Devils against Tar Heel freshman J.B. Bukauskas.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.