BATON ROUGE — LSU first baseman Blake Dean has been named one of 30 candidates 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.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, 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.
Dean returned to LSU for his senior season after he was selected in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins. The native of Crestview, Fla. earned first-team All-SEC recognition in 2009, batting .328 with 18 doubles, 17 homers, 67 runs and a team-best 71 RBI.
A first-team All-American in 2008, Dean is No. 8 on the all‐time LSU home run list with 44 dingers and No. 6 on the LSU career RBI list with 190.
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 AwardTM 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.
“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.
2010 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Baseball Candidates
Name, Position, School
DJ Belfonte, Outfield, Nebraska
Daniel Bibona, Pitcher, UC Irvine
Shane Brown, Outfield, Central Florida
Stephen Cardullo, Shortstop, Florida State
Ian Choy, Outfield/Designated Hitter, Canisius
Wes Cunningham, First Base, Murray State
Devon Dageford, Outfield, Louisiana Tech
Blake Dean, First Base, LSU
Mike Donato, Outfield, Massachusetts
Michael Fabiaschi, Second Base, James Madison
Jeremy Gould, Pitcher/Utility, Duke
Clay Jones, First Base, Alabama
Jim Klocke, Catcher/Pitcher, Southeast Missouri State
Cory Kovanda, Second Base, Ohio State
Francis Larson, Catcher, UC Irvine
Drew Lee, Shortstop/Second Base, Morehead State
Tyler Lyons, Pitcher, Oklahoma State
Clint McKeever, First Base, Wichita State
Russell Moldenhauer, Designated Hitter/Outfield, Texas
Kevin Nieto, Outfield, Manhattan
Matt Payton, Infield, Western Kentucky
Eric Pettis, Pitcher, UC Irvine
Tony Plagman, First Base, Georgia Tech
Derek Poppert, Shortstop, San Francisco
Kenneth Roberts, Pitcher, Middle Tennessee
Kyle Roller, Designated Hitter/First Base, East Carolina
Mike Sodders, Infield, New Mexico State
Josh Spence, Pitcher, Arizona State
David Towarnicky, First Base, Appalachian State
Corey Valine, Third Base/Catcher, San Jose State