Jan. 12, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. - With former standout left-hander Andrew Miller and head coach Mike Fox receiving awards, the North Carolina baseball team will be well represented when the Raleigh Hot Stove League hosts its 57th annual banquet Tuesday, Jan. 23 at the Jane S. McKimmon Center on the campus of NC State University.

Miller will be honored as the North Carolina College Player of the Year, while Fox is the recipient of the Will Wynne Award, given each year to the North Carolinian having the best year or biggest impact on baseball. Dinner will being at 6:30 p.m. with the award presentations to follow.

Miller helped pitch the Tar Heels to the finals of the College World Series with a 13-2 overall record, a 2.48 ERA and a school-record 133 strikeouts. He was named National Player of the Year by Baseball America and received the Roger Clemens Award as the nation's top collegiate pitcher. He was drafted sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers and spend the last month of the season of the active roster of the American League champions.

Fox led the Tar Heels to a school-record 54 wins, the program's fifth CWS appearance and a No. 2 final national ranking. Fox was also named the 2006 ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. He is in his ninth season at his alma mater and is one of only six men to both play in the CWS and then coach their alma maters back to Omaha.

Tickets are $35 each and are available at Johnson Lambe Sporting Goods in Raleigh's Cameron Village, the offices of the Carolina Mudcats and the Durham Bulls, or in Greenville by calling Kelly Baxter at 252-258-3907. Tables are $350 each and available by calling 919-787-1647.