OVERLAND PARK, KS - New Mexico State senior closer Scott Coffman has been announced as one of 30 candidates for this year's Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

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-community, classroom, character and competition.

Coffman, a senior from Albuquerque, also earned 2012 Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America honors and first-team All-WAC honors after a spectacular 2011 that saw him tie the school record with nine saves on the year. He is currently second in Aggie history in career saves with 15, only two behind Aggie all-time leader Orlando Griego who had 17 saves from 1987-90.

Coffman has continued right where he left off last season during the first week of the 2012 season. He already picked up his first save of the year and has a 3.60 ERA and seven strikeouts in three appearances and only five innings of work.

Coffman finished his junior year with a 3-0 record, a 1.88 ERA, 36 strikeouts and the nine saves while allowing only nine earned runs in 43 innings of work. His numbers were even more impressive in WAC play where he finished with a 1.31 ERA and 16 strikeouts in just over 20 innings of play. With his first-team All-WAC honor, Coffman became the first Aggie pitcher in team history to be named to a first-team all-conference team.

Coffman's work off the mound is just as impressive. The aerospace engineer major has put almost 35 hours of community service while at NM State. He has helped with such activities as the "Dress a Kid" and "Clean Up" projects. Coffman and the rest of the Aggie baseball team have put on a clinic for mentally disabled kids from the Las Cruces area for the past three years. The clinic ends with a baseball game alongside the kids.

Coffman is part of a talented candidate list that also includes six CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans from last season, three National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association first-team All-Americans from 2011, eight players that play with a team ranked in the USA/Today ESPN preseason top 25 coaches poll and three players that participated in last year's NCAA College World Series.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will then be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, Division I head coaches and fans who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs-community, classroom, character and competition.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winner during the 2012 NCAA College World Series, which will be held June 15-26 in Omaha, Neb.

For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

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Baseball Candidates

Pablo Bermudez, Outfield, FIU
Robbie Buller, First Base/Pitcher, Houston Baptist
Pat Cantwell, Catcher, Stony Brook
Scott Coffman, Pitcher, New Mexico State
Bo Cuthbertson, Shortstop, Southern Utah
Taylor Dugas, Centerfield, Alabama
Matt Hamann, Pitcher, Belmont
Jake Hibberd, First Base, Wright State
Todd Hornsby, Pitcher, Jacksonville State
Mike Le Bel, Infield, Rhode Island
David Lyon, Catcher, Kent State
Thomas McCarthy, Third Base, Kentucky
Charlie McCready, Pitcher, Charleston Southern
Trenton Moses, Third Base, Southeast Missouri State
Austin Nola, Shortstop, LSU
Peter O'Brien, Catcher, Miami (Florida)
Nick Orvin, Outfield, Citadel
Phil Pohl, Catcher/First Base/Outfield, Clemson
Zach Price, Infield, Army
James Ramsey, Outfield, Florida State
Brance Rivera, Outfield, TCU
Michael Roth, Pitcher/First Base, South Carolina
Cam Schiller, Second Base, Oral Roberts
Joe Sclafani, Shortstop, Dartmouth
Ronnie Shaeffer, Catcher, UC Irvine
Tyler Sibley, Second Base, Texas State
Ross Stripling, Pitcher, Texas A&M
Brent Suter, Pitcher, Harvard
Preston Tucker, Infield/Outfield, Florida
Troy White, Third Base, Northern Illinois