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    Miller, Bard Grabbed In First Round Of MLB Draft
     
    Pitching duo becomes first pair of Tar Heels taken in round one since 1985.

     
    Andrew Miller was taken sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers Tuesday.
     
    Andrew Miller was taken sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers Tuesday.
     
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    June 6, 2006

    CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina starting pitchers Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard were both selected in the first round of Tuesday's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, giving the Tar Heels a pair of first-round selections for the first time since 1985. Miller was selected sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers, while Bard went No. 28 to the Boston Red Sox.

    Miller and Bard are slated to start the first two games of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional beginning Friday on ESPN. With a pair of wins against No. 4 national seed Alabama, the Tar Heels will advance to their first College World Series since 1989.

    Both Miller and Bard rank among the winningest pitchers in UNC history, as Miller is third all-time with 26 wins and Bard is seventh with 23. Miller is first in program history with 300 strikeouts, while Bard can crack the top 10 with just two more this weekend. Miller is 12-2 on the year with a 2.26 ERA and 108 strikeouts. Bard is 8-3 with a 3.47 ERA and 90 strikeouts, and is 5-1 with a 1.56 ERA in his last seven appearances.

    A three-time All-ACC choice, Miller has already picked up first-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year. He is a finalist or semifinalist for nearly every national player of the year award, including the Golden Spikes Award, and earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors three times this season.

    Daniel Bard went No. 28 to the Boston Red Sox.

    Bard was a two-time conference pitcher of the week this season and was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 2004 and picked up freshman All-America honors that season. He was an all-star in the Cape Cod League last summer and was on the initial watch list for the Roger Clemens Award this year.

    Miller and Bard are the first true pair of first-rounders selected out of Carolina since B.J. Surhoff and Walt Weiss in 1985. The Tar Heels had Kyle Snyder go in round one in 1999 followed by supplemental first-rounders Mike Bynum and Brian Roberts that season.

    At No. 6, Miller is the highest-drafted UNC product since Paul Shuey went No. 2 in 1992. The Tar Heels have now had 11 first-round selections. Russ Adams, who went 14th to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002, was the program's last first-rounder.