« Baseball 2011

Cory Tilton

School
Charlotte
Position
Center Field
Major
FInance
AVG
.284
R
46
H
63
FLD%
1.000
RBI
45

Classroom

Tilton maintains a 3.81 GPA in finance. He has taken the lead on a student project that is truly groundbreaking. Combining efforts with the athletic department, Tilton is working on developing the first-ever business continuity plan for athletic departments in the UNC system. This project will help put into place policies and procedures used in the event of a crisis affecting the ability to carry out critical business functions of the athletic department. From ticket sales to databases of charitable donations, this business continuity plan will assess risk exposures and provide solutions to any chance of loss facing the athletic department. Has been on the Chancellor’s List six semesters and the Dean’s List three times and was named to the 2010 Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team

Character

Tilton has faced and overcome many challenges throughout college. As a recruited walk-on there was little hope of being a full-time starter at a top Division I school. After not even having a spot on the roster as a true freshman, the outlook was even bleaker. That summer while playing back home, he found out his mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Faced with the decision of trying to play ball or move closer to home to stay with his mom, Tilton took his mother’s advice and encouragement and went to follow his dream. As a credit to his character and strength of heart, he found himself working hard to accomplish his dream of being an elite college baseball player. Later that spring, Tilton was in the starting lineup on opening weekend as a redshirted freshman. “I feel at that point in my life I was faced with a difficult decision and at a crossroads. Being guided from my mom to follow my dreams, I felt as if anything was possible,” Tilton said. “If she could live with a degenerative disease I could surely make the necessary sacrifices to be the best baseball player and person I could be.” To this day, Tilton still calls his mom after every game to tell her about it and to see how she’s doing. “Although she can’t make it to many games, I always play with her in my heart, and as if she was in the stands watching.”

Community

Tilton’s community involvement includes helping put on an Epilepsy awareness event every fall. This entails helping raise money and spending time with families who are affected by epilepsy. He is involved every year in Multiple Sclerosis Awareness events and Toys for Tots functions. He participated and even helped to coordinate the annual 9/11 blood drive sponsored by the athletic department this past fall as well as assisting in the previous fall’s blood drives. Tilton has also worked on teams to help build community playgrounds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Charlotte. He has also been involved in countless other community service events such as a volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club, traveling to local elementary schools to read to young children and participating in campus cleanup to help promote environmental awareness around the campus.

Competition

Charlotte’s everyday center fielder for the majority of the past three seasons, Tilton enters the 2011 season with 112 starts in center and 148 career appearances. He is only one of three players to start all 56 games for Charlotte in 2010. He led Charlotte with 28 multi-hit games and tied for the Atlantic 10 Conference lead with five triples after finishing second in the league in triples with five in 2008. He was second in the A-10 with 27 stolen bases and was fourth in the league with 60 runs scored, both tops on the Charlotte stat sheet. Tilton made only one error in 178 chances in the outfield in 2010 and also led the team with four outfield assists. He is a career .314 hitter with 116 runs, 12 triples and 42 stolen bases. One of his career highlights was scoring the game-winning run from first after a bunt in the 11th inning of the 2008 A-10 tournament championship to clinch a 4-3 victory and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Cory was named a preseason second-team All-Defensive player by College Splits