BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University first baseman David Towarnicky has been tabbed as one of 10 finalists for the 2010 baseball Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, Lowe's announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Nationwide balloting is underway now through May 31 to determine the winner of the prestigious award. To vote for Towarnicky, click HERE or text BASEBALL to 74567. The results of fan voting will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the winner of the award, which will be presented at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. in June.

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 students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 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.

In the classroom, Towarnicky carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average as a double-major in banking and finance and risk insurance management with an international business minor. For his efforts in the classroom and on the playing field, he was named a third-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American in 2009 and, earlier this week, was named a recipient of the Southern Conference's prestigious Camp Champs postgraduate scholarship. He is the only one of the original 30 Senior CLASS baseball candidates that sports a 4.0 GPA.

His character is evident by the fact that upon his graduation from ASU in December, he plans to put a lucrative career in finance on hold and continue his education overseas, where he would like to conduct research in the area of microfinance and the financial needs of poverty-stricken areas of the world. He then aspires to work for an international organization to help bring capital and financial services to people and places that desperately need it.

Towarnicky is an active member of the community, helping spearhead service projects that raised over 6,200 cans of food to help fight hunger in the High Country and provided support to the Crossnore School, a local non-profit home and school for abused children.
 
On the field, Towarnicky has been the Mountaineers' starting first baseman since his arrival at ASU in 2007 and has played in 183 career games. The team captain is a .305 career hitter and, perhaps even more impressively, sports a .991 career fielding percentage with just 14 errors in 1,599 chances at first base. Last year, he set career highs with a .328 batting average, 64 hits, 12 doubles, 90 total bases, a .433 on-base percentage and seven total sacrifices and is hitting .310 with five home runs and 27 RBI through 31 games this season. His 131 career RBI are tied for eighth in ASU history.