Conway, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina Department of Athletics is excited to announce that four Chanticleers in Jessica Alexander (women’s golf), Daniel Bowman (baseball), Rico Noel (baseball) and Lauren Yates (softball) have been elected to the George F. “Buddy” Sasser Athletics Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony for the Class of 2019 will be held on Friday night, Oct. 11, at the HTC Center. The newest induction class will also be publicly honored at halftime of the football game versus Georgia State on Oct. 12.

Jessica Alexander
Women’s Golf (2009-13)

A native of Riverview, Fla., Alexander was the Big South Championship individual medalist and the Big South Women’s Golfer of the Year in 2011, after earning Big South Women’s Golf Freshman of the Year honors in 2010. A four-time All-Big South selection, Alexander was named to the Golfweek All-Region team in 2011. She led the Chants to two Big South Championship titles in 2011 and 2013, while also competing for Coastal in three NCAA Regional events. A four-time WGCA All-America Scholar over her four years at Coastal Carolina, Alexander will forever be remembered as the first-ever women’s golfer in Coastal history to make a hole-in-one in tournament play. She finished her career tied with the lowest 18-hole round in CCU history with a 66 at the 2011 UCF Challenge and the lowest 54-hole tournament score of 208 at M&F Bank Rebel Intercollegiate in 2013. She also ranked second in career scoring average at 75.27 when her career at Coastal ended, which still ranks in the top five to date.

Daniel Bowman
Baseball (2009-12)

Bowman was an integral part of the Coastal Carolina baseball team winning four-straight Big South regular-season and tournament championships from 2009-12. A native of Bridgewater, Va., Bowman was named a Collegiate Baseball third-team All-American and a CollegeBaseballInsider.com honorable mention All-American in 2012, the same season in which he was named to the ABCA All-Region team and was tabbed the Big South Player of the Year. A two-time All-Big South selection (2010 and 2012), Bowman was crowned the Big South Tournament MVP in 2010 and was a three-time Big South All-Tournament team pick (2010, 2011 and 2012). A 2009 Collegiate Baseball and Ping! Baseball Freshman All-American, he graduated from Coastal Carolina as the program’s leader in games played (246), games started (244), at-bats (963), hits (309), RBIs (206) and total bases (526). He was also the first player in Big South history with 200 runs scored, 200 RBIs and 300 hits. Bowman, who was drafted in the 38th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds, spent the 2014 season playing in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system after a pair of seasons playing for the Lake Erie Crushers in the Frontier League.

Rico Noel
Baseball (2008-10)

Tabbed a 2013 third-team All-American by NCBWA, Baseball America and Ping! Baseball, Noel was a leader for the Coastal Carolina baseball team that won three consecutive Big South regular-season and tournament championships from 2008-10. A two-time CollegeBaseball360.com National Player of the Week, Noel led all of NCAA Division I in stolen bases in both 2009 and 2010. He was a two-time first-team All-Big South selection (2009 and 2010) and was named to the Big South All-Tournament team in 2009. A native of Lawton, Okla., Noel was named the 2010 NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional MVP. He finished his career ranked second all-time in CCU history in runs scored (187), stolen bases (120) and sacrifice flies (16). His 82 runs scored in 2010 is still tied for the most runs by a Chant in a single-season, while his 75 runs in 2009 still rank fourth to this day. Drafted in the fifth round by the San Diego Padres in the 2010 MLB Draft, Noel reached the majors in 2015 in which he made his MLB debut with the New York Yankees on Sept. 2 versus the Boston Red Sox.

Lauren Yates
Softball (1999-2002)

A native of Nokesville, Va., Yates was a two-time All-Big South selection (2000 and 2002) and the 2000 Big South Championship Tournament MVP. Also named to the Big South All-Tournament team in 1999, 2000 and 2002, Yates led Coastal to two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2002. She was a key part of two Big South tournament championship teams (2000 and 2001) and two Big South regular-season championship squads (2001 and 2002) during her time in the circle at Coastal. She closed out her career ranked in the top five in career wins (46), innings pitched (551.1), appearances (107), complete games (62), earned run average (1.90), saves (3) and strikeouts (323).

Courtesy: Coastal Carolina Athletics