June 7, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina juniors Chris Iannetta, Marshall Hubbard and Garry Bakker were selected on day one of the 2004 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Monday. Iannetta went in the fourth round (110th overall) to the Colorado Rockies, Hubbard was selected in the eighth round (243rd overall) by the Seattle Mariners and Bakker was picked in the 11th round (329th overall) by the Chicago White Sox.

With these three selections, Carolina head coach Mike Fox has had 23 players drafted in his six years in Chapel Hill.

A three-year starter, Iannetta had an outstanding junior season, batting .336 with 15 home runs, 19 doubles and 71 runs batted in to rank second behind Hubbard in each category. Defensively, he threw out 24-of-48 runners and picked off nine others. A native of Providence, R.I., Iannetta committed just seven errors in 571 chances for a .988 fielding percentage. He is one of three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award, presented to the nation's top catcher, and was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, awarded to the nation's top collegiate player. Iannetta was also voted first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference and named third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He earned all-tournament honors at both the ACC Championship and the NCAA Columbia Regional.

Playing his first year at Carolina after transferring from William & Mary, Hubbard led the Tar Heels with a .352 average, 17 homers and single-season school record 83 RBI. He also had 21 doubles, which ranks as the fifth-best single-season total in program history, and his 41 extra-base hits were the third most in Tar Heel history. A native of Ashland, Va., Hubbard picked up first-team All-America honors from USA Today Sports Weekly and third-team accolades from Collegiate Baseball. He was also named first-team All-ACC and joined Iannetta on the all-tournament teams at ACC Championship and the NCAA Columbia Regional.

Bakker, who is from Sloatsburg, N.Y., was a three-year weekend starter for the Tar Heels and was outstanding down the stretch in 2004. He finished the year with a career-best 3.90 earned run average and a 5-5 record. Bakker is 17-11 in three years at Carolina. He tossed his second career complete game shutout against Maryland in this year's ACC Tournament to earn a spot on the all-tourney team.