Guilford’s Wooden makes it stick with aluminum

GUILFORD’S KYLE WOODEN EARNS ALL-STATE BASEBALL HONOR

Greensboro, N.C. — Guilford College sophomore Kyle Wooden (Monroe, N.C./Sun Valley) earned College Division All-State baseball recognition from the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) Tuesday. The squad consists of NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA student-athletes from North Carolina colleges and universities. North Carolina sports information directors submitted nominees and NCCSIA members selected the team for the sixth straight year. Wooden is the Quakers’ first all-state baseball pick since 2006.

The announcement marks one more laurel for Wooden, who was named a second-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches’ Association (ABCA) and D3baseball.com in May. The 6-5, 240-pound designated hitter leads NCAA Division III with a school-record .514 batting average through games of May 24. He tied the Guilford standard with 71 hits this season and ranks fourth in Division III with a .588 on-base percentage. The left-handed-hitting Wooden belted a team-best 10 homers, which ranks ninth in Guilford history, and 15 doubles, the Quakers’ fifth-highest all-time total. His .841 slugging percentage and 51 runs batted in (RBI) both stand second in school history. He also scored 42 runs, worked 14 walks and reached base a school-record 12 times as a hit batsman. Wooden led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) with a .492 batting average, .566 on-base percentage and 25 RBIs in 17 league games.

Guilford’s 19th First Team All-ODAC pick, Wooden paced the Quakers with 16 multiple-RBI games and recorded 19 contests with at least two hits. He enjoyed a 12-game hitting streak during the year and twice captured ODAC Player of the Week honors. Wooden started the season with a bang, going four-for-four with two homers, four runs scored and four RBIs in Guilford’s season-opening 19-18 win over Piedmont College Feb. 7. He was five-for-five with a homer, double and three RBIs in a Mar. 22 victory at league-rival Emory & Henry College and ended league play in style by going seven-for-nine with two homers and seven RBIs in a doubleheader split with ODAC Tournament champion Washington and Lee University Apr. 19.

Wooden helped fourth-year head coach Nick Black’s ’02 club to a 19-19-1 record, the Quakers’ best since 2006. Guilford set the school record and rank 26th nationally with a .348 team batting average. Black may return as many as 24 letter winners for the 2010 campaign, including Wooden.

Dave Walters
Guilford College Athletics