« Baseball 2016

Woody Wallace

School
University of Cincinnati
Position
Catcher
Major
Accounting

Classroom

Woody Wallace has a cumulative GPA of 3.801 as a senior accounting major. He has been on the dean’s list (3.4 GPA) and the Bearcats Honor Roll (3.0 GPA) in each semester he has attended UC and is a part of the team that was awarded the American Athletic Conference Team Academic Excellence Award for the highest baseball team GPA in the league for both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He also was named to the 2015 American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and was named the team’s recipient of the 2014 Legion of Excellence Award, a prestigious honor at the University of Cincinnati designated to the team member with the highest GPA in each school year.

Character

Wallace was one of four upperclassmen named to the team’s leadership committee after being appointed by Head Coach Ty Neal. This committee meets with the coaching staff regularly to share ideas and the mindset of the locker room and to act as the players’ spokesmen. He is able to speak his mind and contribute to the program in that capacity. Wallace is definitely a leader on the field as well, always talking to the players around him, and is one of only two guys to break down team huddles.

“Wallace has earned the respect of his teammates and coaches. They know they can lean on Wallace for his performance and leadership on the field and off.” - Ty Neal, Cincinnati Head Coach

Additionally, Wallace has dealt with the turbulence of a new coaching staff, which was implemented after his freshman season. He is currently on his third hitting coach in his four years with the team but has thrived in all circumstances.

Community

This past fall, Wallace helped orchestrate the team’s participation in No Shave November to raise money for cancer research. He, along with a few fellow teammates, started the campaign in memory of Keith Happ, father of former UC All-American Ian Happ, who had recently passed away from brain cancer. Wallace and Happ were roommates and best friends during their time together at UC. Collectively, the team raised over $9,000, well surpassing its $5,000 goal. He also contributes regularly to the Cincinnati community, including time spent with the Cincinnati Reds Urban Youth Academy each fall. There, he helps teach underprivileged children the basic skills of baseball and also discusses the importance of attending college. This past fall he also volunteered at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with teammates to spend time with patients and make their time in the hospital a little more enjoyable. Additionally, Wallace works every semester for the student-athlete Thank-A-Thon to call donors and thank them for their support of the athletic department, and has been a yearly participant in the Pi Beta Phi Angels in the Outfield philanthropy event to raise money for the international nonprofit organization First Book.

Competition

Wallace is a four-year starting catcher for the Bearcats, playing in 133 games and starting 106 of them through the first six games of the 2016 season. As of that time, he had accumulated a career batting average of .257 and had caught 49 runners stealing in his time behind the plate. In 2015 he was named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list to name the nation’s best catcher based on athletic ability, sportsmanship and leadership. He played 121 consecutive innings behind the plate for UC spanning over a month, which is very unusual for the catcher position.