Zac Gallen aims to make his mark

It is sundown in Gibbsboro, N.J. Zac Gallen is just getting warmed up.

Accompanied by his father, Jim, Zac — now a junior pitcher on the North Carolina baseball team — is working on his command at the field across from his home.

He is only five years old, but as the field lights shut off and the dim street lights flicker on, his motor is still churning.

They are playing a game called “3-0.” Start a count with three balls and no strikes and see if you can strike out the batter.

Zac would get the count to 3-2. If he threw a ball, they would start over again. Once he struck out a batter, he would call for the ball and go after it again. And again.

“Come on you’ve gotta go in,” Jim would plead. “You gotta take a bath. You gotta finish up your homework.”

Zac would ask for one more. One turned into five. Five turned into 10. 10 to 20.

It’s OK, though. He’s preparing for something. Whether it was on the field across the street or eventually under the bright lights at Boshamer Stadium, Zac never wanted to leave the field. He has — and always will have — work to do.

Leave a mark. Do something people will remember.

’The greatest third-round pick’

Zac’s older brother, Jay, was making a mark on the little league scene when Zac was born.

Jim believed it just ran in the blood.

Zac’s father had coached the local minor league youth team ever since Jay passed through the system. When Zac turned five, Jim asked the league president if he could give his youngest son a spot on the team. Just for the uniform, he would argue.

But the league did not concede. Just like Jim, it thought baseball was in the Gallen gene pool. Zac entered the youth draft, and Jim ultimately chose him in the third round.

“To this day he’s still like, ‘Oh that’s the greatest third-round pick I ever had,’” Zac said.

From there Zac made quick work of his opponents, most of which were two or three years older. While other kids picked grass, he worked on his pitching motion in right field.

When Zac turned nine, the league made another exception. They were sending him to the majors — to play with 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds.

In his first season, Zac led his team to the championship game, where he faced off against the best 12-year-old pitcher in the league.

Leave it on the field. Show them something they have never seen before.

Zac’s team won 10-1.

“I kind of knew right then that there was something there,” Jim said.

’It’s not a given’

It is a warm July day in Chapel Hill. Zac still has work to do.

He is playing for a summer league team after his junior year of high school. He still has not received an offer from UNC — his dream school. As his squad readied to play at Boshamer Stadium, he prepared to take the mound.

“I got out of the car and my mom was like, ‘Just go out there and make the best of it,’” Zac said. “You never know if it’s the last time you’re going to play on this field.’”

Make them remember you.

Zac isn’t sure how he pitched that day. All of his outings seem to blur together after a while. It doesn’t matter, though.

A month later, UNC expresses its interest. In October, Zac signs with his dream school.

He grew up watching North Carolina baseball. The Tar Heels were always on TV.

As UNC went to the College World Series from 2006-09, Zac watched and dreamed of going himself someday. When he enrolled, he figured he’d have a shot every year.

“When you get here you quickly realize that it’s not a given,” he said. “It’s not as easy as they made it seem.”

During Zac’s first year at UNC, the Tar Heels were knocked out in the NCAA Regionals. In 2015, the team failed to make the tournament for the first time since 2001.

Along the way, Zac started 29 games, but his record stands at 9-7, marred by 13 no-decisions.

The mark, accompanied by scant leadership in the locker room, left Zac sickened.

He would beg coaches to let him go the distance most nights. He even offered to fill in when starting shortstop Wood Myers got hurt. It’s not because he didn’t trust his teammates, but because he believed it was his responsibility to make things right again.

Get back on top. This won’t be our legacy.

’The way it needs to be’

It’s the day before spring classes, and Zac is sitting in Coach Mike Fox’s office. The junior still has work to do.

Zac was one of two players — along with junior Adam Pate — that Fox named a team captain for this season. Fox has never had captains in 17 seasons as UNC’s coach, but with leadership issues plaguing the team the past two years, he knew the team needed a change.

Zac was a clear choice. He leads by example. He’s not afraid to hold people accountable.

“He doesn’t like teammates who don’t carry their weight, and he’ll let them know it,” Fox said. “I think those kind of kids are very hard to find in this day and time.”

Entering tonight’s season opener at UCLA as UNC’s ace, Zac is now in a position to rally teammates around a unified cause. He’ll teach them the way he’s played his entire life — determined to make a mark, to do something memorable. That’s the way it needs to be.

“A lot of people (last year) thought they were leaders, just didn’t lead by example,” Zac said. “I think that’s the first thing. What people see, they’re going to remember that more than what you say.”

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