Christmas came early this week for Ojai Valley School senior Connor Floyd, who received an athletic and academic scholarship to play baseball at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.
The Clarke baseball program competes in the Midwest Collegiate Conference and Floyd, an honor student at OVS, was recruited to play outfield.
Floyd has twice been named an Under Armour Pre-Season All-American.
His dream has been to play at the university level and he has worked out for various college teams. Those include Westmont College in Montecito, where he was also accepted last week.
But the offer from Clarke offered scholarship assistance as well as the likelihood of playing as a freshman.
“Connor not only brings what we are looking for in physical tools on the field, but he also has the right mentality needed to compete at a high level,” said Clarke University head baseball coach Dan Spain in a statement issued by the university on Dec. 23. “He takes care of his business in the classroom and will represent our program the right way as a student-athlete.”
Floyd and his family visited the Clarke campus last month and were impressed by the warm reception they received from the academic, athletic and admission representatives. Floyd also connected with the student-athletes he spent time with during an overnight campus visit.
“It was a great baseball fit, a great social fit, a great academic fit — just a great fit all the way around,” Floyd said. “It’s a very small school, like OVS, and had the major I wanted — and a nice scholarship sealed the deal.”
OVS athletic director and head baseball coach Craig Floyd, who has coached his son in little league since Conner was 6, said the academic environment at Clarke is a great fit and will allow Connor to pursue his interest as a double major in sports management and business.
“He has worked hard to achieve his goal of playing at the next level,” Craig Floyd said. “I am very proud to have seen his development and what he has been able to accomplish during his high school baseball career.”
Connor Floyd signed his letter of intent last week and Clarke University issued a news release Tuesday announcing that the 6-foot-2-inch outfielder had signed to play for the them.
Floyd will become the latest OVS student-athlete to play at the college level. Reika Kijima, a former OVS Condor League champion and boarding student from Japan, now runs cross-country and track at USC. Keaton Shiffman, of Ojai, just finished his first season of football at Occidental College. Ojai’s Gavin Silver plays football for Menlo College and Parker Colborn, also of Ojai, played football at Chapman University.
