OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Auburn catcher Jake Wyandt has been named a candidate for the 2022 Senior CLASS Award.
Wyandt is one of 30 student-athletes who excel both on and off the field to be selected as a candidate for the award. It marks the second straight season Auburn has had an honoree after Rankin Woley became the first Senior CLASS Award finalist a season ago.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior or graduate student 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.
A graduate transfer from Presbyterian, where he earned 2021 Second Team All-Big South and Big South All-Tournament Team honors, Wyandt is hitting .250 with seven runs, a double, home run and 12 RBI in his first 14 games and 12 starts in an Auburn uniform. He recently went on a seven-game hitting streak, turning in a .409 average and driving in 11 runs during the stretch, and was previously named to the Buster Posey Award watch list for the second straight season.
In 2019, Wyandt graduated from Harford Community College with his associate's degree and was named a NJCAA Academic All-American. He then attended Presbyterian College and earned his bachelor's degree in computer science, graduating magna cum laude last May with a 3.85 GPA. He is currently enrolled in the business analytics graduate certificate program at Auburn.
In his first season at Presbyterian in 2021, Wyandt was named one of two team captains for the Blue Hose and ultimately helped lead the team a Big South Tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Now in his first season on the Plains, the Laurel, Maryland, native is already the team's vocal leader behind the plate.
Wyandt also still managed to participate in community service projects despite navigating around the COVID-19 pandemic the last two seasons. Most notably, he read to local elementary schools as a part of World Read Aloud Day and conducted baseball clinics for kids and adults with disabilities.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the 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 2022 College World Series® in June.
For more information on all of the candidates, visit SeniorCLASSAward.com.
Wyandt named a Senior CLASS Award candidate
