June 4, 2004

By Adam Lucas

COLUMBIA, SC--No member of the media wanted to speak to Carolina righthander Robert Woodard after Friday afternoon's 6-5 win over Coastal Carolina in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament.

As Mike Fox entered the reserved area to meet with the press, a bystander asked the whereabouts of Woodard.

"No one asked for him," came the reply from the Tar Heel sports information director. "He's probably on the bus already."

No surprise, really. Woodard hadn't done much--he'd just thrown 4 1/3 hitless innings of relief, tied the school record for wins by a freshman, and kept the Tar Heels in the game long enough for a dramatic two-run ninth inning rally. He didn't do it in spectacular fashion, didn't throw the ball over 100 miles per hour or break off biting curves. He did it fairly simply, by throwing strikes and getting outs. The freshman from Charlotte faced 14 batters and went to a three-ball count just twice.

"Robert Woodard was a big key for us, coming in the game and shutting their offense down," Fox said.

From the seventh inning on, it seemed that virtually every string Fox pulled worked out perfectly. Trailing 5-3 with none out and two on in the seventh, he called for a sacrifice bunt from Chris Iannetta. The Tar Heel catcher got the ball down, but taking the bat out of the hands of one of the Heels' leading hitters seemed to be a risky play with offensive opportunities getting slim.

But the very next hitter, Marshall Hubbard, lofted a sacrifice fly to center that wouldn't have scored a run without the bunt, and suddenly Fox looked omniscient. The plain-spoken coach, however, admitted to being less confident than he might have looked.

"I was wishy-washy the whole time," Fox said. "Should I bunt or should I not? I would do that situation again. We were down 5-3 and had a guy on deck who might set the school single-record RBI mark. I was really second-guessing myself when Marshall went in a hole 0-2. He did a great job of putting that ball in play."

In that same inning, Fox pinch hit Mike Daniel for Ross Cook. Daniel coaxed a walk in the seventh, and then in the ninth drove the game-tying single back through the middle with one out. On a bizarre Chris Iannetta strikeout when no one seemed exactly sure what had happened, Daniel took advantage of the confusion by taking second base, where he was in scoring position when senior Sammy Hewitt slapped the game-winning hit.

"At first I was just trying to get on base," Daniel said about his ninth inning at-bat. "But once Greg (Mangum) got in scoring position [on a stolen base] I was trying to drive the ball up the middle so we could score a run."

Even in the back-slapping celebration after the game, it didn't take long for the reality of the situation to set in. The Tar Heels will face homestanding South Carolina in front of a raucous crowd Saturday afternoon. The Gamecock fans turned the area around Sarge Frye Field into one giant tailgate party Friday afternoon; the atmosphere is sure to be even more intense when they face a border-state rival.

It might have been nice to find out what Woodard thought of all the commotion. One day, he'll probably be a popular interview choice--he's a likely future candidate for the closer position, a more marquee slot than the spot starter and long reliever role he has filled as a rookie.

Until then, though, if you want to get his thoughts, look for him in the parking lot. He'll be on the bus.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.