UF Baseball's Preston Tucker Named Candidate For Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Friday, February 24, 2012 | Baseball
University of Florida senior infielder/outfielder Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) was one of 30 NCAA baseball student-athletes named as a candidate for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, it was announced on Thursday. 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.
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.
Majoring in anthropology, Tucker was selected in the 16th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft by the Colorado Rockies with the 498th overall pick but decided to return to Florida for his senior season. This quotation from Tucker summed up his decision: “A lot of guys don't have the opportunity to say that they got a college degree and I always want to have that to my credit. The bottom line is that I can go off and play pro ball next year and this is an opportunity that I really didn't want to pass up. It's playing baseball, it's the game I've always loved to play so in the end I'll still be doing what I love.”
In helping the top-ranked Gators to a 4-1 start, Tucker is hitting .450 (9-for-20) with six RBI, five runs, a team-high three homers, a pair of doubles and a slugging percentage of 1.000. He belted a solo shot on Wednesday night in the fifth inning of an 8-0 shutout of No. 19 UCF to tie Brad Wilkerson's school-record total of 214 career RBI.
Tucker has helped with the Friends of Jaclyn adoption with the rest of his teammates and assisted with the Climb for Cancer, an event in which Gator student-athletes play games and compete with cancer-stricken kids and their siblings in a variety of sports. During the holiday season, Tucker and his teammates served hot meals to members of Gainesville's homeless community.
In 2011, Tucker earned second-team All-America and first-team All-South Region from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) as the Gators finished as the national-runner up with a program-best 53-19 record. Florida shared the SEC regular-season championship with South Carolina and Vanderbilt and captured its first SEC Tourney title since 1991 before winning the Gainesville Regional and Super Regional rounds on the way to Omaha. A first-team All-SEC choice and the Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 NCAA Gainesville Regional, Tucker batted .308 with a team-best 74 RBI, 55 runs, 28 walks and matched the school's single-season record with 23 doubles. He established UF's single-season marks for games played (tied with Mike Zunino) and started by being in the lineup all 72 games, with 63 starts in right field and nine at first base.
During the Gators' 11 NCAA Tournament outings, Tucker totaled 20 RBI and had 11 extra-base hits (six doubles and five homers) on his way to a .304 (14-for-46) clip. He is the school's all-time leader in NCAA Tourney at bats (97), hits (35), RBI (35), homers (9) and doubles (8). Tucker was a second-team All-SEC recipient and a member of the league's All-Defensive Team as a sophomore in 2010 as the Gators reached the College World Series for the first time since 2005.
In 2009, Tucker became the first player in school history to earn the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Freshman Hitter of the Year Award and he shared the SEC Freshman of the Year honor with LSU pitcher Matty Ott. He was the Most Outstanding Player of the Gainesville Regional, was a unanimous selection to the league's All-Freshman Team and was chosen as a Freshman All-American by Baseball America, Louisville Slugger, Rivals.com and the NCBWA.
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' Poll, 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. Former Gator Brandon McArthur was the award recipient in 2009.
2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award 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
