Moravian Honors Senior Student-Athletes; Close & Schaffer Named Athletes of the Year; Feldmann & Rock Honored as Blue & Grey Scholar-Athletes & Bishop Wins Gillespie Award

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College honored its 2012 senior student-athletes at its annual Senior Athletics Awards Banquet Wednesday night in Johnston Hall.  Women's track & field standout Abigail Schaffer (Easton, Pa./Easton HS) was named the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete while baseball pitcher Brendan Close (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom HS) was honored with the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award.  The Blue & Grey Scholar Athlete awards were presented to women's soccer student-athlete Diana Feldmann (York, Pa./Central York HS) and baseball player Austin Rock (Arlington, Va./Flour Bluff {Texas} HS).  The H.T.D. Gillespie Award for outstanding service to Moravian's athletics program was presented to Ray Bishop '81.

Schaffer was recently honored as the LVAIAW Outstanding Field Athlete in track & field for a second straight year and was also Moravian's LVAIAW Outstanding Athlete for the school. During the indoor season, Schaffer was the runner-up at the NCAA Division III National Championship in the pole vault after winning the national title both indoors and outdoors with NCAA meet record heights in 2011. She also won the 2012 Landmark Conference Championship indoors as well as the outdoor title for a second straight year. Schaffer tied for sixth the Women's College Pole Vault Championship at the Penn Relays last month, and set the NCAA Division III all-time record in the pole vault, clearing 4.22 meters (13 feet, ten inches) at the Greyhound Invitational on April 21. Schaffer has the top height and will compete at the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championships to be held May 24 to 26 at Claremont-Mudd Scripps Colleges in California.  Schaffer is also a two-time member of the Landmark Conference Winter Academic Honor Roll and a two-time member of the Landmark Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll, and she has been honored on the Landmark Conference Winter All-Academic Team in 2012 and Landmark Conference Spring All-Academic Team in 2011.

Close, who was named the 2012 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team yesterday, went 8-1 on the year with a 2.18 ERA in 66 innings.  He had 53 strikeouts while allowing six walks and holding his opponents to a .247 batting average.  Close also had eight complete games and one shutout.  Recently, Close was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team for a second straight year and is eligible to Academic All-America Honors, and he is a three-time member of the Landmark Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll and made the 2011 Landmark Conference Spring All-Academic Team.  In his career, Close holds the school records for wins in a season and career, innings pitched in a season and career, shutouts in a season and career as well as strikeouts in a game, season and career.  He finished his career with a 30-4 overall record to go with eight shutouts, a 2.35 ERA, 285 strikeouts and just 33 walks in 268.1 innings pitched.  He was also one-for-one in his only career plate appearance to go with 16 putouts, 55 assists and a .922 fielding percentage.  Close was named Pitcher of the Year in 2011 along with earned First Team honors in 2011, 2009 and Second Team honors in 2010.  Close was named to the 2012 D3baseball.com Preseason All-America First Team, and in 2011 he was on the 2011 D3baseball.com All-America First Team and the American Baseball Coaches Association /Rawlings All-America First Team.  Close garnered a spot on the Rawlings/ABCA Division III All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team, and he was also named the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

 Feldmann was named to the 2011 Capital One Division III Academic All-America Women's Soccer Second Team this past fall.  In Feldmann's four years at Moravian, she played in 79 games and tallied four goals and four assists and helped lead Moravian to four postseason berths including the 2008 Landmark Conference Championship and a trip to the NCAA Division III Championship tournament. Feldmann was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team in 2009 and 2011 and Second Team in 2010, the Landmark Conference All-Academic Team and Landmark Conference Honor Roll in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She is also a three-time member of the Capital One Academic All-District selection including the First Team in 2010 and 2011.  Feldmann has a 3.98 grade point average, and she is majoring in environmental science with a minor in history.

Rock, who was named to the 2012 Landmark All-Conference First Team yesterday as a designated hitter, batted .364 (56-for-154) at the plate with 38 RBIs, 37 runs scored, 14 walks and a team-best 15 doubles and four home runs.  Recently, Rock was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team for a second straight year and is eligible to Academic All-America Honors, and he is a three-time member of the Landmark Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll.  Rock was named to the All-Conference First Team in 2011, and he completed his career with a.311 batting average (125-for-402) to go along with 81 runs, 31 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs, 97 RBIs, 197 total bases, a .490 slugging percentage, 43 walks, a .385 on-base percentage, six sacrifice flies, eight stolen bases, 369 putouts, 40 assists and a .986 fielding percentage in 133 career games that included 112 starts.  Rock has a 3.95 grade point average, and he is majoring in financial economics and philosophy.

Bishop graduated from Moravian in 1981, and he has been active with the College since.  Bishop has been a member of the Blue & Grey Club.  Bishop's company, Team Imaging/Bishop Photo, is one of the premier companies in the nation in team sports photography and has taken head shots and team photos of Moravian's student-athletes for over 20 years.

Moravian runs though the Bishop family as well with his wife Teri also graduating in 1981, and their son Michael, who played football for the Greyhounds, graduating in 2010.