David Towarnicky

Classroom

Towarnicky has maintained a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average through his first seven semesters at Appalachian State University as a double-major in banking and finance and risk insurance management with an international business minor. He is a member of the Chancellor's and Dean's Lists, the ASU and Southern Conference Academic Honor Rolls, ASU's Walker College of Business Honors program and the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. Towarnicky also serves as an Appalachian Ambassador, a select group of 42 ASU students dedicated to serving the Alumni Association, University Admissions and the Office of the Chancellor. For his efforts in the classroom and on the playing field, he was named a third-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American in 2009. He was also named the 2010 recipient of the Southern Conference’s Camp Champs Graduate Scholarship.

Character

Following his graduation in December, Towarnicky plans to put his career in finance on hold and continue his education overseas, where he would like to conduct research in the area of microfinance and the financial needs of poverty-stricken areas of the world. He then aspires to work for an international organization such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank to help bring capital and financial services to people and places that desperately need it. He would like to help bring green and renewable sources of energy to both developing areas and the rest of the world that would drastically reduce energy costs and result in a cleaner living environment. ASU head coach Chris Pollard says "There is no one that I have worked with in 17 years of college baseball that has more integrity than David Towarnicky."

Community

Towarnicky is an active member of the community through his work as an Appalachian Ambassador and with ASU's Student-Athlete Advisory Board and ASU baseball. As an Appalachian Ambassador, he helped spearhead the Chancellor for a Day program, which encourages ASU students to donate canned goods for an opportunity to switch roles with Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock for a day. The drive raised over 6,200 cans of to help fight hunger in the High Country. As SAAB's external affairs committee chairperson, it is his responsibility to coordinate the organization's community service projects, most notably with the Crossnore School, a non-profit home and school for abused children. He calls his interaction with the Crossnore School "the most rewarding experience I have had through any of my extra-curricular activities at ASU." He has also participated in Samaritan's Purse's Santa's Toy Box campaign with his baseball teammates and coaches.

Competition

Towarnicky has been the Mountaineers' starting first baseman since his arrival at ASU, playing in 152 games and making 138 starts at first base over the first three years of his career. The team captain is a .304 career hitter and, perhaps even more impressively, sports a .993 career fielding percentage with just nine errors in 1,291 chances at first base. He will most likely finish his career among ASU's all-time top 10 in hits, RBI and total bases. As a junior in 2009, he set career highs with a .328 batting average, 64 hits, 12 doubles, 90 total bases, a .433 on-base percentage and seven total sacrifices.