Alex Close, a senior first baseman/relief pitcher on Liberty University’s baseball team, was the 2015 recipient of the Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award, the university’s highest athletics honor.
The award is presented to the graduating senior student-athlete who best exemplifies the standards and lives of Rock Royer, Liberty’s first football coach in 1973, and Mac Rivera, a member of Liberty’s basketball team from 1972-1975. Both Royer and Rivera died tragically at a young age. The award encompasses more than just athletic ability; it recognizes the student-athlete who has maintained an exemplary testimony on the playing field, in the classroom, and among the student body.
“Alex Close personifies the term ‘Christian leader,’” said Jim Toman, head baseball coach. “Throughout his years on our baseball team, Alex has consistently and unapologetically proclaimed his Christian faith as the guiding force in his life, both on and off the baseball field. Not only does Alex set a Godly example for his teammates, he uses every game as a platform to spread the Gospel with players on competing teams.”
Close, from Hoover, Ala., entered the later portion of his senior season ranked fifth in program history in career home runs (29), sixth in career hits (238), and seventh in career RBIs (154). In 2012, he earned Big South Freshman of the Year honors and was named to the NCBWA and Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America teams. As a junior, he received All-Big South Conference first-team honors and entered his senior season as the 2015 Big South Preseason Player of the Year. Following his junior season, he was selected in the 27th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals, however, he opted to complete his degree in financial planning and return for his senior season.
“My time at Liberty has exceeded expectations,” Close said. “On the field, I have had the opportunity to play the game I love, in the nicest facility in the country (the Liberty Baseball Stadium), alongside the best players in the country. My dream of playing in an NCAA Regional has come true as well (twice).”
Close has excelled as much in the classroom as he has on the baseball diamond. As a junior, he became the second player in program history to be selected to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-America first team. He is also a three-time Big South Presidential Honor Roll member and was named to the 2014 VaSID All-Academic team.
“I have grown in my faith tremendously, thanks in part to the education here as well as the spiritual leaders within the athletics department,” Close said. “Four years later, my faith has grown to a deep understanding of what it means to believe, and how to truly play for an audience of One.”
