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Eager and Hedrick honored as ACU's top student-athletes for 2014-15
5/4/2015 8:18:00 PM | Baseball, Softball
ABILENE - Wildcats Tyler Eager and Peyton Hedrick Monday night were announced as the winners of the Paul Goad Award for the 2014-15 academic year at the ACU Athletics Awards Banquet.
The Paul Goad Award signifies the top male and female student-athlete at ACU each year. Goad was a three-sport student-athlete at ACU in the mid-1950s and the award bearing his name has been handed out to ACU student-athletes since his death in November 1978.
Recognized as one of the very best first-year talents in the nation by the National Fast Pitch Coaches' Association, Hedrick dazzled her teammates, coaches and opponents with both her bat and glove throughout 2015.
The Forney, Texas, native batted .432 on the spring in which she didn't miss a single start at shortstop. She added to that 12 home runs, 11 doubles and five triples to post a .800 slugging percentage, and on the base paths she was successful on 12 of 14 stolen-base attempts.
She was equally impressive in the field as she only made three errors during 27 Southland contests, and routinely displayed range that extended from the third-base dugout to behind the second base bag. Very little got past her as evidence by her 102 putouts, 89 assists and .946 fielding percentage.
And at year's end, not only did Hedrick lead the Wildcats in most-to-all offensive categories but she also finished the season ranked among the Southland's top-10 leaders in 10 columns: batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, RBI, doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases.
Among Hedrick's best games were a 3-for-3 career debut vs. Missouri State, and multi-home run outings vs. McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin. She also set a school single-game record with three triples vs. Hardin-Simmons and will go into 2016 riding a 17-conference game hitting streak.
After last weekend's sweep of New Orleans – the Wildcats' first sweep of a Southland Conference opponent in program history, dating from 1964-72 and 2014-15 – Eager is hitting a team-best .285 with one home run and a team-high 27 RBI.
The top defensive first baseman in the Southland Conference, Eager has made just two errors in 44 games for a fielding percentage of .994. He also has a streak of 166 straight games started in his career, which is one of the longest starting streaks in NCAA Division I baseball.
The Fort Worth native has played in all 205 games of his ACU career and has led the Wildcats through the transition from NCAA Division II status to NCAA Division I status.
In his three-plus seasons as a Wildcat, Eager is tied for fifth all-time in hits (238), tied for eighth in doubles (44), 10th in total bases (308) and 11th in runs scored (130).
A complete list of tonight's award winners are listed below.
Athletic Training Awards
Comeback Student-Athlete of the Year: Leslie Snider, Soccer
Student Athletic Trainer of the Year: Gwyndolyn Ellis
Fighting Heart Awards
Baseball: Kyle Carroll
Men's Basketball: Austin Cooke
Women's Basketball: Elizabeth Dimba
Cheerleading: Angela Kirkpatrick
Men's Cross Country: Daniel Block
Women's Cross Country: Diana Garcia-Munoz
Football: Justin Stephens
Golf: Kaden Walters
Soccer: Megan Baer
Softball: Lakin Carpenter
Men's Tennis: Jason Proctor
Women's Tennis: Kaysie Hermsdorf
Men's Indoor/Outdoor Track: Rosen Daniel
Women's Indoor Track: Kimone Green
Women's Outdoor Track: Alexandra Hackett
Volleyball: Dorothy Swanson
Paul Goad Award
Presented to the top male and female athletes of the year at ACU.
2000-01: Alfred Rugema (cross country), Leah Ticer (tennis)
2001-02: Ryan Boozer (football), Melanie Carter (basketball)
2002-03: Alfred Rugema (cross country), Lacey Johnson (tennis)
2003-04: Bernard Manirakiza (track), Melanie Carter (basketball)
2004-05: Bernard Manirakiza (track), Katie Bryan (softball)
2005-06: Danieal Manning (football), Amanda Slate (volleyball)
2006-07: Nicodemus Naimadu (track), Angie Aguilar (track and field)
2007-08: Jerale Badon (football), Abbie Lowry (volleyball)
2008-09: Jordan Schmitt (baseball), Irene Squillaci (tennis)
2009-10: Aaron Oliver (baseball), Shawna Hines (volleyball)
2010-11: Alex Carpenter (golf), Andrea Carpenter (soccer)
2011-12: Nick Jones (track and field), Jennie Hutt (volleyball)
2012-13: Alex Carpenter (golf), Julia Mongin (tennis)
2013-14: John David Baker (football), Andrea Carpenter (soccer) and Micah Hermsdorf (tennis)
2014-15: Tyler Eager (baseball), Peyton Hedrick (softball)
About Paul Goad
Paul Goad was a three-sport student-athlete at ACU in the mid-1950s. Goad lettered in football, baseball and track and field for the Wildcats after transferring to ACU after his freshman campaign at Vanderbilt. He won the Texas Conference title in the shot put in 1954, and he was a member of ACU's NAIA national championship track and field teams in 1954 and 1955.
Goad was ACU's leading rusher and scorer in 1954, and in 1955 he was third team all-America. He went on to play professionally for one season (1956) with the San Francisco 49ers after being selected by the team in the 25th round of the 1956 draft.
The Paul Goad Award signifies the top male and female student-athlete at ACU each year. Goad was a three-sport student-athlete at ACU in the mid-1950s and the award bearing his name has been handed out to ACU student-athletes since his death in November 1978.
Recognized as one of the very best first-year talents in the nation by the National Fast Pitch Coaches' Association, Hedrick dazzled her teammates, coaches and opponents with both her bat and glove throughout 2015.
The Forney, Texas, native batted .432 on the spring in which she didn't miss a single start at shortstop. She added to that 12 home runs, 11 doubles and five triples to post a .800 slugging percentage, and on the base paths she was successful on 12 of 14 stolen-base attempts.
She was equally impressive in the field as she only made three errors during 27 Southland contests, and routinely displayed range that extended from the third-base dugout to behind the second base bag. Very little got past her as evidence by her 102 putouts, 89 assists and .946 fielding percentage.
And at year's end, not only did Hedrick lead the Wildcats in most-to-all offensive categories but she also finished the season ranked among the Southland's top-10 leaders in 10 columns: batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, RBI, doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases.
Among Hedrick's best games were a 3-for-3 career debut vs. Missouri State, and multi-home run outings vs. McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin. She also set a school single-game record with three triples vs. Hardin-Simmons and will go into 2016 riding a 17-conference game hitting streak.
After last weekend's sweep of New Orleans – the Wildcats' first sweep of a Southland Conference opponent in program history, dating from 1964-72 and 2014-15 – Eager is hitting a team-best .285 with one home run and a team-high 27 RBI.
The top defensive first baseman in the Southland Conference, Eager has made just two errors in 44 games for a fielding percentage of .994. He also has a streak of 166 straight games started in his career, which is one of the longest starting streaks in NCAA Division I baseball.
The Fort Worth native has played in all 205 games of his ACU career and has led the Wildcats through the transition from NCAA Division II status to NCAA Division I status.
In his three-plus seasons as a Wildcat, Eager is tied for fifth all-time in hits (238), tied for eighth in doubles (44), 10th in total bases (308) and 11th in runs scored (130).
A complete list of tonight's award winners are listed below.
Athletic Training Awards
Comeback Student-Athlete of the Year: Leslie Snider, Soccer
Student Athletic Trainer of the Year: Gwyndolyn Ellis
Fighting Heart Awards
Baseball: Kyle Carroll
Men's Basketball: Austin Cooke
Women's Basketball: Elizabeth Dimba
Cheerleading: Angela Kirkpatrick
Men's Cross Country: Daniel Block
Women's Cross Country: Diana Garcia-Munoz
Football: Justin Stephens
Golf: Kaden Walters
Soccer: Megan Baer
Softball: Lakin Carpenter
Men's Tennis: Jason Proctor
Women's Tennis: Kaysie Hermsdorf
Men's Indoor/Outdoor Track: Rosen Daniel
Women's Indoor Track: Kimone Green
Women's Outdoor Track: Alexandra Hackett
Volleyball: Dorothy Swanson
Paul Goad Award
Presented to the top male and female athletes of the year at ACU.
2000-01: Alfred Rugema (cross country), Leah Ticer (tennis)
2001-02: Ryan Boozer (football), Melanie Carter (basketball)
2002-03: Alfred Rugema (cross country), Lacey Johnson (tennis)
2003-04: Bernard Manirakiza (track), Melanie Carter (basketball)
2004-05: Bernard Manirakiza (track), Katie Bryan (softball)
2005-06: Danieal Manning (football), Amanda Slate (volleyball)
2006-07: Nicodemus Naimadu (track), Angie Aguilar (track and field)
2007-08: Jerale Badon (football), Abbie Lowry (volleyball)
2008-09: Jordan Schmitt (baseball), Irene Squillaci (tennis)
2009-10: Aaron Oliver (baseball), Shawna Hines (volleyball)
2010-11: Alex Carpenter (golf), Andrea Carpenter (soccer)
2011-12: Nick Jones (track and field), Jennie Hutt (volleyball)
2012-13: Alex Carpenter (golf), Julia Mongin (tennis)
2013-14: John David Baker (football), Andrea Carpenter (soccer) and Micah Hermsdorf (tennis)
2014-15: Tyler Eager (baseball), Peyton Hedrick (softball)
About Paul Goad
Paul Goad was a three-sport student-athlete at ACU in the mid-1950s. Goad lettered in football, baseball and track and field for the Wildcats after transferring to ACU after his freshman campaign at Vanderbilt. He won the Texas Conference title in the shot put in 1954, and he was a member of ACU's NAIA national championship track and field teams in 1954 and 1955.
Goad was ACU's leading rusher and scorer in 1954, and in 1955 he was third team all-America. He went on to play professionally for one season (1956) with the San Francisco 49ers after being selected by the team in the 25th round of the 1956 draft.
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