March 17, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Senior right-handed reliever Brian Cloud is one of 30 candidates for the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award that is given annually to a deserving student-athlete that has found success on the playing field, in the classroom and in the community.

Cloud, a senior from Lubbock, is in his fourth season on the Texas Tech Baseball team and is a model student-athlete. Not only has he been successful on the diamond, but he has maintained an impressive GPA and has been active in the Lubbock community. Cloud is one of four student-athletes (Nick Faunce, Kansas; Nick Sullivan, Nebraska; Kyle Thebeau, Texas A&M) from the Big 12 Conference that will be vying for one of the 10 finalists spots that will be revealed midway through the season.

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 School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages those leaders to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact on their circle of influence.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA®, expanded the award program in 2007 to include numerous NCAA® Division I sports - men's and women's soccer, men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse, baseball, and softball in addition to men and women's basketball. With theaddition of football this year, the number of sports encompassed by the nation's premier award for seniors reaches nine.

This marks the third year for the baseball division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Rice University pitcher Cole St.Clair received the title of "Nation's Premier Senior Student-Athlete" for the 2008 season and University of Alabama infielder, Emeel Salem took home the inaugural baseball award in 2007.

These 30 student-athletes will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot. The ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the candidate that best exemplifies excellence in the "Four C's" of Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition.

The 2009 candidate class has representatives from thirty different NCAA® Division I schools, each of which has outstanding accomplishments on and off the field. The award winner will be announced and recognized at Omaha's Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium during the 2009 NCAA® Men's World Series.