Harvey's performance wasted

For the most part this season, North Carolina hasn’t wasted staff ace Matt Harvey’s good stuff.

But Friday, No. 3 Georgia Tech (19-2, 6-1 in the ACC) scratched out what it needed against Harvey in a 2-1 win over North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium.

Harvey’s pitches were scary good early in the game. He had seven strikeouts after three innings.

A fielding error on Tommy Coyle allowed one Yellow Jacket runner to cross the plate unearned in the fourth inning. And Harvey gave up a lead-off double in the seventh inning and walked three batters, walking in the other run, before getting his 11th strikeout to end the inning and his performance.

“I battled through it,” Harvey said. “I wish I could have taken some pitches back and did a little bit different.”

Harvey said his two-seam fastball, changeup and curveballs were working well Friday.

The junior righty, who entered the game with a  1.97 ERA, has been throwing a lot of strikeouts this season, his first as the staff ace, a position he assumed with the departure of North Carolina’s two aces in Alex White and Adam Warren, who were both taken in the early rounds of last year’s Major League draft.

“It’s something I take pride in and work hard for every week,” Harvey said of the new responsibility. “I’d just like to keep our team in every game, like I did tonight. I was happy about tonight, though I thought I could have done more.”

Senior outfielder Mike Cavassini said the Tar Heels (16-7, 2-5 in the ACC) let Harvey down.

“It hurts deep down,” said Cavassini, who hit an RBI single in the second inning and was 2-for-2, and got on base twice more on a walk and was hit by a pitch. “He pitches his butt off every time. “We can put up 20 runs, but we won’t give him but one. That really hurts because you know he’s going to do everything to win.”

Harvey took the loss, as his ERA dropped down to 1.85. He’s 3-1 now. The Heels won the first four games he started, but for the second Friday in a row, he’s gone seven solid innings and thrown 11 strikeouts, but both were wasted. A week ago, he blanked Florida State for seven innings, but the Seminoles still won 4-3.

“We’re not supporting him, and honestly, it just hurts,” Cavassini said.