Guilford's Wooden Named Preseason All-American
Greensboro, N.C. (1/26/10) -- Guilford College junior Kyle Wooden was named an honorable mention selection to the D3baseball.com Preseason All-America Team Tuesday. He is one of 50 honorees chosen for the team by a panel of Division III sports information directors and media.
A 6-5, 250-pound designated hitter, Wooden received Second Team All-America, First Team All-South, and First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) honors last season. He led NCAA Division III with a school-record .514 batting average, tied the Guilford standard with 71 hits (the nation's 25th-highest figure) and ranked 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 total. His .841 slugging percentage and 51 runs batted in (RBI) last year 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 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 in 2009 and twice captured ODAC Player of the Week honors. Wooden started last season with a bang, going four-for-four with two homers, four runs scored and four RBI in Guilford's season-opening 19-18 win over Piedmont College. He was five-for-five with a homer, double and three RBI 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 RBI in a doubleheader split with ODAC Tournament champion Washington and Lee University Apr. 19.
Fifth-year head coach Nick Black's '02 Quakers return 26 letter-winners for the 2010 campaign, including Wooden. The team seeks to best last year's 19-19-1 record, the Quakers' best season since 2006. Guilford opens the 2010 season Feb. 6 at Piedmont.