CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois catcher Jason Goldstein was named one of 30 candidates in the nation for the Senior CLASS Award, it was announced Monday. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Goldstein currently leads the team with a .415 batting average after serving as the team's starting catcher on the 2015 squad that won a program-record 50 games and advanced to the NCAA Champaign Super Regional. The Highland Park, Illinois, native was named the No. 11 catcher in the nation by D1Baseball.com before the start of the 2016 campaign.

Goldstein is also one of the few catchers in college baseball that calls all of his team's pitches. He was rated as the "Best Defensive Catcher" in the Big Ten by Baseball America.

Goldstein returned to Illinois after being selected in the 17th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers in order to finish his industrial engineering degree. He is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and first team All-Big Ten catcher.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C's of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2016 College World Series in June.