Robert Woodard to pitch onTV tonight for UNC

Robert Woodard will get the ball for the Tar Heels against Georgia Tech tonight on ESPN2.

For those of you who don't have a high school game, you may want to tune in, or better yet, make the trip to Chapel Hill.

For those who are fairly new to the board and who wonder why I post so often about Robert, in addition to being a Myers Park greenie, Woody ("Up and In" on the board) and his dad (Prepster) have been great contributors to TBR since its inception and Robert is a personal favorite of ours. The kid is the hardest working young man in the game -- he has an unparalleled work ethic and he is a fantastic leader and teammate. As pitching coach Roger Williams has said, he has never before had a player that is always so well prepared to pitch.

I'll never forget the time when Robert was a senior at Myers Park that he took a young teammate aside to counsel him when the teammate was having some personal troubles. Or the time when he was a junior that he invited a scared, young freshman to take after-practice infield with the veterans (as usual Robert was hitting infield to some guys after practice because they wanted some extra infield -- they wanted extra infield because Robert told them they wanted extra infield, whether they wanted it or not). And, all you young aspiring pitchers pay attention to this, he probably did this because he wanted them as well prepared as possible, but he was the best I've ever seen at the high school level at picking up a teammate after that teammate made a costly error. I saw him encourage a teammate positively once after the player made two, two-out errors in the same inning that plated three unearned runs. He didn't fume, kick the dirt and glare at his teammate like you see so often these days. He struck the next guy out and Myers Park rallied to win in the late innings. Robert is truly a difference maker.

After he chases his professional dream -- and we are all rooting for him to make it big, he wants to coach and teach. He will be one of the best. My son, who played with and learned from Robert (and was the scared freshman in the earlier paragraph), has already said that if and when he has a son, he will move to wherever Robert is coaching so that his son can play for him. If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does.

Robert's outstanding, consistent performances this season (6-0 record; 2.47 ERA; 63Ks and only 14 BBs in 76.2 IP; Opp BA .217) have resulted in his now moving to the #1 starter spot on the highly rated UNC pitching staff, in all likelihood so that Coach Fox can try to get two outings from him in next week's ACC tournament if the Tar Heels advance deep.

Now, I hope I haven't jinxed him for tonight. He is pitching against one of the best hitting teams in the country. I think a roadtrip is in order.

Braves, Pops, rbc, you guys wanna go tonight?

 

I ll be watchin...

my boys are getting beat 6-4 going into the ninth currently!