Baseball

"Cody just loves to play baseball," said 39-year veteran Head Coach Bob Fisher ‘63. "He steps on the .eld every day and gives at least 110 percent, is a team-leader and embodies all of the good things that a Division III student-athlete should exemplify."

Kidd, who is a biology/ pre-med student in the classroom, is both the leadoff hitter and defensive leader in the outfield. He hits for both average and power. He steals bases, scores runs and is constantly cheering on his teammates to a higher level. In the out.eld, he chases every ball like it is the last one he will ever get to chase.

"Cody plays the game the way you would want every single student-athlete to play the game at any level of play," said Fisher, who is the winningest active coach in the OAC with 650 victories. "He combines that with leadership both in the classroom and on the .eld and a high grade point average. He is just a joy to coach."

"I also think his enthusiasm for the game has rubbed off on his teammates," continued Fisher. "Although our record was not the best this year, I thoroughly enjoyed coaching this group of young men, and I feel that a guy like Cody was one of the reasons."

At the plate, Kidd led all Yellow Jacket hitters with a .382 batting average, at-bats (123), runs scored (42), triples (four), slugging (.553), on-base average (.484), stolen bases (16 in 17 attempts) and set a school-record by being hit-bypitch 13 times. He also tied for the team-lead with 47 base hits and three homeruns and had a solid .974 .elding average.  For his efforts on the field, Kidd was tabbed as the Yellow Jacket "Big Stick" Award winner and as a second-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection.

In the classroom, Kidd maintains a 3.76 grade average, is a member of both the Dean’s List and Alpha Lambda Honor Society, was named as a Jacket Scholar and as both an Academic All-OAC and second-team ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-District IV choice. And, this spring while he was having a great season on the .eld, Kidd had a 3.822 grade average during Winter-Spring Semester. In addition to being named as the "Big Stick" Award winner, Kidd and sophomore first baseman Riley Kreisher (Ashtabula) shared this year’s Yellow Jacket Award for "demostrating the unselfshness, encouragement, positive attitude, practice ethic and style of play and leadership that if emulated would make for a better baseball player and teammate."

Next fall, Fisher returns both Kidd and Kreisher and with more kids like these two also returning and others entering the program as first-year players, look for Fisher’s "New Kidds on the Block" to have a strong 2007-2008 season.