Oct. 27, 2008

Story courtesy of Oklahoma City Sports Information Office

OKLAHOMA CITY – Chris Schroder will be inducted into the Oklahoma City University Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday.

Schroder, a pitcher for OCU’s baseball team in 2000-01, will be recognized at halftime of the Stars’ homecoming basketball game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena and at OCU’s Distinguished Alumni and Athletic Hall of Fame Awards Dinner at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City.

Reception starts at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Fellow alums are encouraged to attend, and alumni from each college will be honored. Tickets are $30 each and tables for 10 are $300. Tickets are complimentary for alumni from reunion classes of 1998, 1983, 1958 or earlier. To order tickets, call the Alumni Relations office at (405) 208-5117 or e-mail alumni@okcu.edu.

In 2000-01, Schroder became a two-time first-team NAIA all-American. He was also an NAIA all-American scholar athlete as a senior. He holds OCU’s career earned run average record with a 2.16.

As a senior, Schroder went 13-1 with a 1.28 ERA and four shutouts, striking out 108 in 87.2 innings. As a junior, Schroder was 11-1 with a 2.67 ERA and struck out 102 in 87.2 innings. Schroder opened his junior year with a win over the University of Oklahoma. OCU won the Sooner Athletic Conference championship his senior year.

“If there were an important game we had to win, I wanted Chris Schroder on the mound for us,” OCU coach Denney Crabaugh said.

Schroder is one of three OCU alums coached by Crabaugh to reach the major leagues. Schroder made his major-league debut with the Washington Nationals on Aug. 8, 2006 against the Florida Marlins.

With the Nationals, Schroder became the first relief pitcher in franchise history to strike out all six batters in one outing on Sept. 17, 2006 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He went 2-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 37 appearances with the Nationals in 2007, earning his first big-league win against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 7, 2007 when Barry Bonds broke the career home-run record. He made four appearances with the Nationals this past year.

Schroder had been selected twice in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. The Montreal Expos took Schroder in the 19th round with the 562nd overall pick of the 2001 draft, and the Cincinnati Reds selected him in the 46th round in 2000. He is the only OCU player to be selected twice in the MLB draft.

Before OCU, Schroder pitched his freshman and sophomore seasons at Seminole State. Schroder, from Okarche, Okla., made Oklahoma Coaches Association all-state as a senior.