University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels' Woodard Joins Preseason All-America Ranks
January 4, 2006 | Baseball
Jan. 4, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Junior right-hander Robert Woodard became the third North Carolina starting pitcher to earn preseason All-America honors when he was selected to RosenblattReport.com's third team Monday. Woodard joins fellow starters Daniel Bard and Andrew Miller, who was named to RosenblattReport.com's second team, as preseason All-Americas.
Miller also picked up first-team preseason honors from Collegiate Baseball and second team accolades from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Bard was chosen to Collegiate Baseball's third team.
The trio of Bard, Miller and Woodard combined for 23 of the Tar Heels' 41 wins a year ago and has notched 45 of Carolina's 84 victories over the last two seasons.
Woodard, who was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection a year ago, posted an 8-0 record and an ACC-best 2.11 earned run average. The eight wins were the third most in a season at UNC without suffering a loss, and most since All-America Scott Bankhead went 9-0 in 1984. Woodard is 16-2 in his career for a .889 winning percentage, which equals Bankhead's program-best mark. Woodard pitched for the Cape Cod League's Chatham A's last summer and earned all-star honors with a 5-1 record and a 2.53 ERA.
A two-time All-ACC choice, Miller went 8-4 last season with a 2.98 ERA and 104 strikeouts en route to second-team all-conference honors. He is 14-7 with a 2.96 ERA in his two seasons at Carolina and has 192 career strikeouts in 185.2 innings. This summer, Miller was 6-0 with a 1.65 ERA for the Chatham A's and was rated as the Cape Cod League's No. 1 professional prospect by Baseball America.
The Tar Heels return 19 letterwinners, five position starters and the starting rotation of Bard, Miller and Woodard for the upcoming campaign. Carolina opens the 2006 season Feb. 17 against Seton Hall at Boshamer Stadium.
