David named to NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list
2/14/2024 4:09:00 PM | Baseball
DALLAS – Sam Houston reliever Chandler David was one of 73 players to be named to the initial watch list for the 19th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball, the association announced Wednesday.Â
Nominees were submitted by either conference or institutional sports information directors.Â
He is one of three Conference USA hurlers to be named to the list, joined by Ethan Bates (Louisiana Tech) and Cole Heath (WKU).Â
David, a native of Van Alstyne, returns for his second year with the Bearkats and is poised to take over duties on the back end after a debut season in Huntsville in 2023 which saw him named to the All-WAC first team as a reliever. Â
He joined the Kats prior to 2023 after single years at UIW, Odessa College and Murray State College and was a key earned all-tournament honors at the WAC Tournament and was a key piece to Sam Houston taking the title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Â
David made 30 appearances a year ago, all out of the bullpen, and posted a sparkling 6-0 record with a pair of saves and a 2.34 ERA. Additionally, he held opponents to just a .214 average and struck out 73 hitters with only walks in 57.2 innings. Â
He is the first Bearkat reliever named to the award's preseason watch list since Nick Mikolajchak prior to the 2018 season, and he will be looking to join former Bearkat reliever Luke Prihoda as Sam Houston players to claim the award at the end of the year. Prihoda was the award's third-ever recipient, winning the award in 2007.Â
In all, this year's watch list includes three 2023 Stopper of the Year finalists and 11 NCBWA Preseason All-America selections. Of the initial 73 members to the list, 12 were featured on last year's midseason watch list. Â
David and the Bearkats open up the 2024 season, their first in Conference USA, on Friday at Don Sanders Stadium when it hosts Oklahoma State in the opener of a three-game series.Â
Single-game and season tickets can be purchased at GoBearkats.com/tickets or by calling the Bearkat Ticket Office at 936-294-1729.Â
