The injuries have continued to pile up for the No. 11 North Carolina baseball team after its first two contrasting weekends of ACC play.
During their ACC opener against Duke, the Tar Heels were forced to play the entire weekend without their most experienced weekend starter — senior right-hander Benton Moss, who’s dealing with a strained right forearm.
In his place, though, sophomore Zac Gallen stepped up admirably and recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts to lead UNC to the Friday victory and set the tone for a 2-1 series victory against the Blue Devils.
"(He had) a little chip on his shoulder, and then for one reason or another we’re having to pitch him in our first ACC game,” said Coach Mike Fox after Gallen’s outing. “I’m hoping all the other pitchers just take a look at that. Just be prepared, and he was prepared. And he pitched great.”
Preparation would continue to be important for UNC after picking up its first ACC series win. In a 13-2 midweek loss to Coastal Carolina — a game where Fox said the team, “didn’t do much of anything right” — sophomore shortstop Wood Myers broke his left fibula.
That led to more shuffling on Fox’s part. He had to replace a crucial defensive position and one of the team’s most consistent hitters. So, Fox slid freshman Logan Warmoth from third to short, moved Alex Raburn to third base and plugged junior transfer Elijah Sutherland into the starting lineup at second base.
And Sutherland responded to the challenge, reaching base three times in three chances during Sunday’s 3-2 extra-inning loss to Pittsburgh. While that loss gave Pitt the 2-1 series victory and dropped UNC to 3-3 in ACC play, the team was encouraged by the resiliency it showed in spite of the many challenges.
“I think we played really hard this past week,” said J.B. Bukauskas, who leads healthy UNC starters with a 2.70 ERA. ”(We’ve) got a couple of injuries that have been nagging our team, so that kind of makes it tough for us to play up to our full ability.
