Bird Among Lowe's CLASS Award Candidates
April 19, 2007 ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis senior right-hander Ryan Bird is among 30 NCAA Division I baseball players announced as candidates for the 2007 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Originally awarded in basketball only, this is the first year multiple awards will be issued to include baseball and three other NCAA sports. Candidates are selected based on their overall achievements, including classroom, character, community and competition. Bird is a 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and a two-time Academic All-District selection. He earned second-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors last season and went on to be named the A-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player after pitching the Billikens to their first conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 40 years. Bird is the Student-Athlete Advisory Council treasurer and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society as well as the Golden Key International Honor Society He will go down as one of the premier pitchers in Saint Louis baseball history, ranking among the program's top 10 in single-season wins, strikeouts, games started, innings pitched and ERA. Over the last four seasons, Bird has amassed 266 strikeouts, just three short of the school record, needs just two more starts to match the school record of 55 career starts and is just 1-1/3 innings away from the school-record 354 innings pitched. He is among the program's all-time top five with 16 career wins and its top 15 in complete games with eight. The list of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award spans 29 different schools and 19 conferences. Bird is the only candidate from the Atlantic 10 and one of eight pitchers on the list. Ten finalists for the award will be announced in May and placed on a ballot for a nationwide vote concluding June 6. The eventual recipient of the award for baseball will be chosen by a voting pool of coaches, media, sponsors and fans and will be announced in June at the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
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