BAYLOR BASEBALL: Cunningham Named a Candidate for the 2019 Senior Class Award

[Caton, Rachel]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 22, 2019
CUNNINGHAM NAMED A CANDIDATE FOR THE 2019 SENIOR CLASS AWARD
The redshirt senior is a standout on and off the diamond.
For more information contact: Rachel Caton, 254-652-2061, Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu<mailto:Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas –Redshirt senior outfielder Richard Cunningham was named one of 30 candidates for the 2019 Senior Class Award, it was announced today.
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 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.
Cunningham, one of three nominees from the Big 12, is the definition of a student-athlete. His list of accolades on the field are almost as long as his honors in the classroom. Already a Baylor graduate with an undergraduate degree in finance, Richard is currently finishing his MBA and plans to graduate this spring. He was named a 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-American, becoming Baylor’s first Academic All-American since 2015. The Austin, Texas, native, boasted a 3.83 GPA in finance as an undergraduate and owned a 3.89 GPA through his first year of graduate school in the business administration program. He was also named the 2017 Big 12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, earned the 2018 Dr. Gerald Lage Big 12 Academic Achievement Award, 2017 Big 12 Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship, was a 2018, 2017 and 2016 Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree, won the Golden Bruiser for Baylor as the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, was an American Bank Academic All-Star and has been on the Dean’s List at Baylor nine times in his college career.
On the field in 2019, Cunningham is batting .329 through 19 games, with 27 hits, seven doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI. He was the only Bear named to the 2019 Shriners College Classic All-Tournament team. In 2018 Cunningham had a career year, setting career highs in games played (55, all starts), batting average (.342), runs (45), home runs (9), RBI (38) and steals (6). He was named Big 12 Player of the Week on May 14, All-Big 12 Second Team on May 22 and Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team on May 27 after helping the Bears win their first Big 12 Championship title in program history.

Cunningham is involved in the community in countless ways. He recently won the Shriners College Classic Service Award for all his community work with Shriners Hospital for Children. He does other volunteer work with his team and his personality, dedication to helping others and interest in bettering the community stands out. He is also a leader on the field, always encouraging and setting an example for his teammates.
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, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C's of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2019 College World Series ® in June.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.





-baylorbears.com-


___________________________________
Rachel Caton | Associate Sports Information Director
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3784
C: 254-652-2061

[cid:image001.png at 01D3533B.25DEF160]<http://www.baylorbears.com/>


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