BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 22, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University pitcher Zach Schneider was announced Friday as one of 30 candidates nationwide for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award® for college baseball.
Schneider is in the midst of his second season as closer with the Owls, and has been excellent on and off the field. He was extremely successful in his debut year with the squad, earning NCBWA Second Team All-American honors, a First Team All-Region nod by ABCA/Rawlings, and First Team All-Conference USA. He led C-USA and was No. 7 in Division I with 15 saves, in addition to a 7-1 record and a 2.61 ERA. Prior to this year, he has already been named Preseason C-USA All-Conference, Second Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate baseball, Third Team NCBWA Preseason and to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List.
This season, he leads C-USA to this point with five saves, all coming in his last five games, and in each of those, he turned in a scoreless outing. He has not given up an earned run in seven of his eight relief appearances, has limited opposing hitters in relief to a .222 batting average, and overall, has struck out 15 hitters in 15 2/3 innings.
In the classroom, Schneider is on track to graduate with a B.A. in criminal justice this summer. As a junior college transfer, he arrived to FAU having earned his AA and has always been in good academic standing as an Owl. During his time at FAU, he has participated in various community service events, including the Hydrocephalus Association Walk, No Shave November, and Boca Little League. He has over 10 hours of community service in this two-year span.
Midway through this regular season, the Senior CLASS Award® list of 30 will be narrowed down to 10, and a nationwide voting system will be disseminated to media, coaches and fans. One candidate will be selected who best exemplifies the four C’s (community, classroom, character and competition), and the winner will be announced during the 2019 College World Series in June.
About the Senior CLASS Award®
To be eligible for this prestigious 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. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the 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.
Here is the list of the 30 candidates selected Friday in full:
· Zach Ashford, Fresno State
· Austin Bull, Grand Canyon
· Richard Cunningham, Baylor
· Jack Dunn, Northwestern
· Antoine Duplantis, LSU
· Austin Embler, UNC Greensboro
· Bryce Fehmel, Oregon State
· Vito Friscia, Hofstra
· Sam Fuller, St. Bonaventure
· Eric Gilgenbach, Notre Dame
· Andrew Gottfried, High Point
· Brock Hale, BYU
· Will Haueter, Northern Kentucky
· Justin Hayes, Norfolk State
· Darius Hill, West Virginia
· Bobby Holmes, Coastal Carolina
· Gunner Leger, Louisiana
· Brady Lloyd, ECU
· Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
· Jayse McLean, North Dakota State
· Tommy Miller, Siena
· Brian Moskey, Quinnipiac
· Cole O’Connor, Dartmouth
· Cam Opp, Army
· Nic Ready, Air Force
· Luke Ritter, Wichita State
· Zach Schneider, FAU
· Andy Shadid, Bradley
· Jahmon Taylor, Coppin State
· Brylie Ware, Oklahoma
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
