This summer Chapman Baseball took home the Division III National Championship title, sweeping Birmingham-Southern College in the best-of-three National Championship Series and among those hard-working ballplayers was Wilkinson’s very own Cooper Foard (’22  Political Science Major).

“It was (and still is) surreal that we won it all,” said Foard. “Traveling out to Cedar Rapids and playing for a national championship really made me put in perspective all the baseball I’d played in my life up until that point. It honestly might take me a year or two for it all to sink in.”

The catcher/outfielder wears number 17 for The Chapman Panthers and according to head Coach Scott Laverty, contributed to the team in multiple ways.

“He scored the winning runs in both the regional and super regional last year as a pinch runner,” said Laverty. “Our guys were a cumulative 3.28 GPA last year,” he said. (Foard being among that group). “I tell our guys that we can be as successful as we want in the classroom and on the field. One does not have to suffer for the other.”

Like most student-athletes, Foard has always had to juggle classes and sports. He has, however, discovered that you always have enough time in the day to get done everything you need to get done, but you just need to be motivated enough to do so.

“The fact that I love both the sport I play and the classes I’m taking (at Chapman University) makes it easy to stay on top of my schedule. Coach Laverty is incredibly supportive of our academics and whenever we have a class that conflicts with practice times, he has no problem with us attending class”.

As a result, The Chapman Baseball team had 12 SCIAC All-Academic Team members last season.

“I love that I can do more than just play baseball at Chapman. I see myself as more than just a baseball player, so the fact that I can do that, double major, and still have time for my other hobbies is a large part of why I love this school,” said Foard.

Although Foard loves creative writing, he just recently decided on a double major in Political Science and PR/Advertising.

“Now more than ever, it’s important to understand the workings of American government. It’s important to me, as a citizen, brother, son, etc. that I understand the system we live under because that’s what makes our democracy so great,” he said.

Although he’s not sure exactly what career path is is going to take in the future, he has given it some thought.

“What I do know is that creative writing is something that I love to do. Being able to make people feel how you want them to through your writing/work is an intoxicating feeling. I would love to harness that feeling in the advertising industry at some point in my life. My hometown of San Francisco is also a large part of who I am and I would love to run for public office there to pay back the city that has given me everything I love in my life so far,” he said.