Cory Wood named Freshman All-American - WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

Story courtesy of Coastal Carolina Athletics

CONWAY – Coastal Carolina outfielder Cory Wood (Raleigh, N.C./Sanderson HS) was named to Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American team, the publication announced today. Wood becomes the Chanticleers’ 11th Freshman All-American and 10th since 2007.

Wood, who was voted Sun Belt Freshman of the Year by the league’s head coaches, batted .291 with 41 runs scored, 24 RBI and an impressive .423 on base percentage thanks to 31 walks. He additionally was 16-of-17 in stolen bases in his rookie campaign. Despite missing nine games due to injury, Wood still ranked sixth in the league in stolen bases and ninth in on base percentage.

However, in Sun Belt games, Wood led the league with a .406 batting average and a .531 on base percentage.  In fact, after batting just .193 through his first 18 games of the season, Wood batted .357 over his final 28 games with a .481 on base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage.

Wood played a role in 10 Coastal Carolina wins, scoring the game winner six times and having the game-winning RBI four times. He also reached base safely (hit/walk/hit by pitch) in 40 of his 44 games played with an at bat, including a streak of 22 straight from Feb. 27 to April 11.

Wood entered his inaugural season at Coastal with high expectations, being tabbed the D1Baseball.com Preseason Sun Belt Freshman of the Year as well as its preseason #1 impact freshman for the league. Also, Wood had big shoes to fill by wearing #1 jersey for the Chanticleers. Prior to Wood, the last three Chants to wear #1 were Rico Noel (5th round pick in 2010 and Major Leaguer), Jacob May (3rd round pick and Major Leaguer) and Michael Paez (4th round pick and Minor League All-Star this season). However, Wood had a better freshman campaign than each of the three.