June 18, 2006
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In Sunday's complete-game win over Clemson, Robert Woodard allowed three hits, three walks and struck out seven to match a career high for the fifth time. The complete-game victory was his third this season against a top-10 team. He also beat No. 1 Florida State April 1 and No. 9 Virginia May 13. Woodard now has four career complete games and two in the NCAA tournament (vs. Notre Dame, 6/3/05).
Sunday's win was the Tar Heels' 52nd of the season, which is a school record. UNC was 51-14 in 1990.
Carolina has won all seven NCAA tournament games for its third-longest winning streak of the season. The Tar Heels opened 2006 with eight straight victories and won nine in a row from April 21 to May 9.
Robert Woodard is now 23-3 in his career and moves into a tie for seventh on UNC's career victory list. His .885 winning percentage ranks second in Tar Heel history.
Sunday's shutout was Carolina's first in CWS play and first in the NCAA tournament since a 2002 win over James Madison (5-0) in the Columbia Regional. The Tar Heels now have a school-record nine shutouts on the season.
Following Sunday's game, Josh Horton and Chad Flack now have the top two single-season hit totals in Carolina history. Horton went 2-for-3 to grab share of the top spot with 104, while Flack, who broke the previous record Friday, is also sits at 104. Only four Tar Heels have recorded 100-plus hits in a single season. Flack went 0-for-4 to snap a career-best 14-game hitting streak Sunday.
Josh Horton leads Carolina with five hits in the CWS and is batting .419 (13-31) in the NCAA tournament. He leads the Tar Heels with a .409 average.
Mike Cavasinni now four hits in CWS and has multi-hit games in eight of the last 10. He leads UNC with a .471 average (16-34) in the NCAA tourney.
Thanks to Sunday's win, Carolina advances to the final of CWS Bracket One. The Tar Heels will play either Clemson or Cal State Fullerton at 4 p.m. Central. Wednesday and will have two chances to win one game and advance to the best-of-three championship series. A second game will be played Thursday at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. should Carolina lose Wednesday.
Fifteen of last 16 national champions started 2-0 in Omaha. Southern California in 1998 was the only team to win the title over this stretch without opening 2-0.
Carolina has already matched its all-time win total in the College World Series. The Tar Heels were 2-8 entering the 2006 CWS, and have already won twice to improve to 4-8 in five trips to Omaha.
