University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: The Right Man On The Mound
May 13, 2006 | Baseball
May 13, 2006
By Adam Lucas
CHARLOTTESVILLE--The Robert Woodard fastball was effective in Satuday's 5-0 complete game shutout of Virginia. So was the Woodard breaking ball. Even the Woodard changeup, which he used on the very first pitch of the game, was useful.
But to understand why he was able to limit Virginia to six hits over nine innings, you don't need to know about any of that. You just need to know about this: Woodard was describing the ninth inning at-bat of Cavalier big hitter Sean Doolittle. The lefthander was the first batter of the inning, and the Tar Heels had just plated four runs in the top of the inning to stretch their lead to 5-0.
Uncharacteristically, Woodard threw a first-pitch ball, the first time he had done that in nine hitters. He eventually fell behind 3-1.
"The game is so mentally draining," the junior righty said. "I fell behind 3-1 to Doolittle. We were up 5-0 but I knew I couldn't give up a leadoff walk right there. The park is big so you've got to make a good pitch and let your defense make the play."
Seems simple, right? But it's something many pitchers don't understand, and it's what makes Woodard so effective every Saturday for the Tar Heels. He simply knows how to pitch. Solo homers couldn't beat him. Baserunners could. Nursing a complete-game shutout, there are other pitchers who might have nibbled against Doolittle, not wanting to risk a home run or an extra-base hit. But Woodard knew Doolittle wasn't going to hit a five-run homer with nobody on base. So he did exactly what pitching coach Scott Forbes wanted him to do--he fired in a strike and let his defense work.
Friday night--when the Tar Heels committed two errors--that might have been a dangerous strategy. On Saturday, though, the Carolina defense was perfect. On the 3-1 pitch, Doolittle lofted a ball to center field, an enormous part of Davenport Field. But Seth Williams raced over and made the catch look easy, his second stellar play in three innings. The first, a fully outstretched robbery of Tom Hagan in the seventh that prevented a leadoff double, prompted Woodard to fire his right fist in the air to celebrate the play.
It wasn't the first time he had benefited from sharp Carolina defense. In fact, the game may have turned on an alert fourth-inning play by Kyle Shelton. After Friday night's loss, Mike Fox had promised lineup changes for Saturday. One of those adjustments was the insertion of Shelton at second base. It was Shelton who went deep in back of the bag to stop a Hagan grounder in the fourth and then scrambled to his feet to throw out David Adams--who was trying to score from second on the play--at home plate.
The Tar Heels had just watched Virginia make a very similar run-saving play in the top of the inning, and after the Cavaliers played flawless defense on Friday night there was a sense of inevitability falling over the series. Shelton's play reversed the mojo, and just two innings later Carolina scored the first run of the game.
"That was the play of the game," Fox said. "We felt like if we played defense behind Robert today we had a chance to win, and we played defense behind Robert today. Kyle's play was great and Seth was terrific in center field."
And, of course, there was a guy named Woodard on the mound who needed just 94 pitches to mow through a Cavalier lineup that came into the game second in the ACC in hitting.
"We had the right guy on the mound today," Fox said. "Everybody knows what a competitor he is. He thrives on this kind of game."
Woodard cracked just the slightest of smiles--just beginning to thaw out of his normal laser-focused gameday mindset--when asked if he might like to take the mound in Saturday's type of must-win atmosphere every time he pitches.
"Don't get me wrong," he said. "If we can get on another winning streak then I don't mind being out there when it's not must-win. But this is why I came to play Carolina. I want to pitch in this type of game."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
