University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Woodard Matches Career Win Mark With Shutout Of Duke
April 13, 2007 | Baseball
April 13, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Senior right-hander Robert Woodard pitched No. 2 North Carolina to a 7-0 win over Duke Friday and earned a tie atop the Tar Heels' career victory list in the series opener at Boshamer Stadium. With his third career complete-game shutout, Woodard improved to 30-3 in his collegiate career to equal Michael Hoog's school record established from 1987-90. At the plate, Seth Williams drove in three runs for the second straight game to pace Carolina (31-5, 12-4 ACC) to its 16th win in its last 17 meetings with the Blue Devils (22-14, 3-13 ACC).
Now 7-0 in his final campaign, Woodard scattered a career high-tying nine hits and one walk over his fifth career complete game. He struck out four and fielded his position well, recording three assists and the game-ending putout on a liner off the bat of Jimmy Gallagher in the ninth. The Charlotte Myers Park product located 85 of his 118 pitches for strikes and picked up the final two outs of the seventh and the first two outs of the eighth on just four pitches.
Woodard, who lowered his ERA to 1.98 on the season, is just the 19th pitcher in ACC history to win 30 games and he moves into a tie for second in league history with his .909 winning percentage.
In addition to Williams' three RBI, second baseman Garrett Gore equaled a career-high with three hits and three runs scored, and left fielder Reid Fronk, third baseman Chad Flack and right fielder Tim Fedroff each added a pair of base hits. Flack also hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the seventh.
Freshman Dustin Ackley's first-inning single pushed his hitting streak to 28 games, which matches New Mexico State's Marcus Quade for the nation's longest active streak. The single in his first at-bat marked the 12th time during his hitting streak that Ackley has extended it with a first-inning base hit. He finished 1-for-4 on the night.
Duke's Alex Hassan (2-3) took the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits over five innings. Matt Williams, Tim Sherlock and Ryan McCurdy each had two hits for the Blue Devils.
UNC took a 3-0 lead in the second and never looked back, adding single runs in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth innings. After a walk to Fedroff and a single by first baseman Kyle Shelton, Gore opened the scoring with a single through the left side in the second. Fronk followed with a single up the middle to match his career-best 11-game hitting streak and give UNC a two-run advantage.
Williams tacked on a sacrifice fly to center to plate the third run of the second and then drove in the fourth score of the day with an RBI single in the fourth. Gore singled for the second time in the game with one out and came around to score on Williams' single through the right side.
Flack played a role in the next two runs, as he singled and scored on a sac fly by Shelton in the fifth and then connected on his second home run of the season in the seventh. The Forest City native clubbed a 1-0 offering from Duke reliever Will Currier to left for a 6-0 UNC lead.
Gore singled and scored on Williams' second sacrifice fly in the eighth for Carolina's seventh and final run.
The Tar Heels and Blue Devils will conclude the annual three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday. The first game will be played 11 a.m. with the second scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
