McCready Named Lowe's Senior CLASS Candidate

OVERLAND PARK, KS – Charleston Southern RHP Charlie McCready has been selected as one of 30 candidates across NCAA Division I Baseball for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, as announced on Thursday afternoon.  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 – community, classroom, character and competition.

McCready, a team captain, is a 2011 All-Big South Conference First Team and Academic Team honoree, as well as a Capital One Academic All-District Award winner.  The kinesiology major boasts a 3.96 GPA and ended the 2011 season as the Buccaneers’ leader in ERA with a 2.29.   He got his first start of the 2012 season in the opener vs. Georgetown, striking out six batters and giving up two earned runs in 7.1 innings. 

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.

The 2012 candidate class includes six CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans from last season and 10 student-athletes with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher. Three candidates were National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association first-team All-Americans in 2011, eight candidates are on teams ranked in the USA Today/ESPN preseason top 25 coaches pool, and three participated in last year’s NCAA College World Series®.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award® winner during the 2012 NCAA College World Series, which will be held June 15-26 in Omaha.

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, Division I head coaches and fans who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. 


For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
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Baseball Candidates
Pablo Bermudez, Outfield, FIU
Robbie Buller, First Base/Pitcher, Houston Baptist
Pat Cantwell, Catcher, Stony Brook
Scott Coffman, Pitcher, New Mexico State
Bo Cuthbertson, Shortstop, Southern Utah
Taylor Dugas, Centerfield, Alabama
Matt Hamann, Pitcher, Belmont
Jake Hibberd, First Base, Wright State
Todd Hornsby, Pitcher, Jacksonville State
Mike Le Bel, Infield, Rhode Island
David Lyon, Catcher, Kent State
Thomas McCarthy, Third Base, Kentucky
Charlie McCready, Pitcher, Charleston Southern
Trenton Moses, Third Base, Southeast Missouri State
Austin Nola, Shortstop, LSU
Peter O’Brien, Catcher, Miami (Florida)
Nick Orvin, Outfield, Citadel
Phil Pohl, Catcher/First Base/Outfield, Clemson
Zach Price, Infield, Army
James Ramsey, Outfield, Florida State
Brance Rivera, Outfield, TCU
Michael Roth, Pitcher/First Base, South Carolina
Cam Schiller, Second Base, Oral Roberts
Joe Sclafani, Shortstop, Dartmouth
Ronnie Shaeffer, Catcher, UC Irvine
Tyler Sibley, Second Base, Texas State
Ross Stripling, Pitcher, Texas A&M
Brent Suter, Pitcher, Harvard
Preston Tucker, Infield/Outfield, Florida
Troy White, Third Base, Northern Illinois

ABOUT THE AWARD
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards a senior season can bring. The award is sponsored by Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, and is managed by Premier Sports Management.

ABOUT LOWE'S
With fiscal year 2010 sales of $48.8 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a week at more than 1,725 home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second largest home improvement retailer in the world. Lowe's is an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA.

ABOUT THE NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit NCAA.org and NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.