Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Announces 2010 Candidates for NCAA® Division I Baseball

February 17, 2010

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(Overland Park, KS) – Thirty NCAA® baseball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were tabbed as candidates today for the 2010 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and competition. The complete list of candidates follows this release.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 

This year’s candidate class includes 12 student-athletes on teams ranked in Collegiate Baseball magazine’s preseason top 40 poll and seven players tabbed as preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Twelve of the candidates carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better, with one recording a perfect 4.0.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award™ winner at the NCAA College World Series® in June.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

“The candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in baseball are fulfilling a commitment to their universities and, at the same time, representing those schools in the community,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “They have recognized the value of both a college degree and public service while taking advantage of the opportunity to play the game they love.”

This marks the fourth year for the baseball division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.  The University of Alabama’s Emeel Salem was the inaugural winner in 2007, Rice University’s Cole St. Clair was the recipient in 2008 and the University of Florida’s Brandon McArthur took home the award in 2009.

Baseball 2010 Candidates

Name Position School
DJ Belfonte Outfield University of Nebraska
Daniel Bibona Pitcher UC Irvine
Shane Brown Outfield University of Central Florida
Stephen Cardullo Shortstop Florida State University
Ian Choy Outfield/Designated Hitter Canisius College
Wes Cunningham First Base Murray State University
Devon Dageford Outfield Louisiana Tech University
Blake Dean First Base Louisiana State University
Mike Donato Outfield University of Massachusetts
Michael Fabiaschi Second Base James Madison University
Jeremy Gould Pitcher/Utility Duke University
Clay Jones First Base University of Alabama
Jim Klocke Catcher/Pitcher Southeast Missouri State
Cory Kovanda Second Base Ohio State Univeristy
Francis Larson Catcher UC Irvine
Drew Lee Shortstop/Second Base Morehead State University
Tyler Lyons Pitcher Oklahoma State University
Clint McKeever First Base Wichita State University
Russell Moldenhauer Designated Hitter/Outfield University of Texas
Kevin Nieto Outfield Manhattan College
Matt Payton Infield Western Kentucky University
Eric Pettis Pitcher University of California, Irvine
Tony Plagman First Base Georgia Tech
Derek Poppert Shortstop University of San Francisco
Kenneth Roberts Pitcher Middle Tennessee State University
Kyle Roller Designated Hitter/First Base East Carolina University
Mike Sodders Infield New Mexico State University
Josh Spence Pitcher Arizona State University
David Towarnicky First Base Appalachian State University
Corey Valine Third Base/Catcher San Jose State University