Wooden Earns Second All-America Honor

GREENSBORO, N.C. (5/22/09) -- Guilford College sophomore Kyle Wooden earned Second Team All-America and First Team All-South Region honors Friday from the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA). Guilford's fifth recorded baseball All-American, he also earned Second Team All-America recognition from D3baseball.com earlier this week. Junior teammate Drew Ward was a Third Team ABCA All-South honoree.

A 6-5, 240-pound designated hitter, Wooden leads NCAA Division III with a school-record .514 batting average through games of May 17. He tied the Guilford standard with 71 hits this season, the nation's 25th-highest figure, 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-RBIs 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.

Only numbers like Wooden's could overshadow Ward's play as the Quakers' starting third baseman this season. The Second Team All-ODAC selection finished second on the team in hitting with a .420 batting average, the fourth-highest figure in Guilford history. He totalled 21 runs, 66 hits, and 45 RBIs, all career highs. He ranked among ODAC leaders in batting average (2nd), hits (3rd), and RBIs (4th). Ward finished the season third on the team with five home runs and 11 doubles, also personal bests. He had 21 multiple-hit games and 11 contests with at least two RBIs. Ward compiled a .890 fielding percentage and won the team's Gold Glove Award. One of his best performances came in the nightcap of the doubleheader against Case Western Reserve Feb. 21, when he was 3-for-4 with two home runs and a career-high six RBIs.

Wooden and Ward 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 for team batting average (.348) and may return as many as 24 letter winners for the 2010 campaign, including Wooden and Ward.