SAN ANGELO, Texas – Zach Cohen has been named the 2012 Lone Star Conference Fred Jacoby Academic Male Athlete of the Year after maintaining a near perfect GPA and helping lead the Angelo State baseball team back to the NCAA Division II postseason.
Cohen, a senior biology major from Houston, becomes the first ASU student-athlete to ever win the award which goes to the top student-athlete in all LSC sports. Texas Woman's softball player Bailey Vrazel was named the LSC's Fred Jacoby Academic Female Athlete of the Year.
“It's a tremendous honor when you start thinking about all the great student-athletes in all the sports in the conference,” Cohen said. “To receive this honor is very exciting and is something that I worked very hard for.”
A transfer from Temple College, Cohen started 96 games for the Rams at short stop as a junior and senior. He finished his two years at ASU with a .306 batting average, 99 hits, 83 runs scored and is the program's leader after being hit by a pitch 43 times in his career. He was also named the LSC Baseball Academic Player of the Year along with earning an LSC honorable mention selection and LSC Baseball Championship all-tournament team honors.
“Playing hard on the field has to be something that you also carry over to the class room,” said Cohen, who will graduate from ASU next May and then plans on attending medical school. “You can't just focus on sports and slack off in the rest of life. I think everything has to be in balance where you're working hard all the time regardless of what you're doing. That's a key part to life that I believe in.”
Cohen and TWU's Vrazel are only the fifth recipients of the award bearing the name of Jacoby, the long-time LSC commissioner who passed away in March 2008. The nominees included the Academic Player of the Year in each sport as selected during the year. Cohen earned the most votes for LSC top male academic athlete, followed by a duo from Incarnate Word -soccer standout Chris Fidler and track & field star Howard Gill - along with Texas A&M-Commerce football standout Taylor Fore.
Fred Jacoby Academic Athletes of the Year
Year Male Female
2012 Zack Cohen, Angelo State baseball Bailey Vrazel, Texas Woman's softball
2011 Kirk Jewasko, Incarnate Word baseball Lauren Thedford, West Texas A&M volleyball
2010 Brad Rutherford, Abilene Christian baseball Lauren Craig, Midwestern State softball
2009 Andrew Foshee, Central Oklahoma baseball Emily Brister, West Texas A&M basketball
2008 Tyler Cooper, West Texas A&M basketball Emily Brister, West Texas A&M basketball
