Platt Alum David Graduates from Fordham with Baseball Accolades

Meriden’s Ryan David was a two-sport star while attending Platt High School for four years before graduating in 2007 -- and his on-the-field success continued on the baseball diamond at Fordham University in New York.

David capped his final season by winning the Atlantic-10 Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career in his last week with the team.  Finishing his career with a .533 batting average, David also finished his season with a nine-game hitting streak.  These numbers helped David reach a milestone that he had never before obtained in his four years at Fordham.

"It was an honor - a great way to end my career," David said of the Player of the Week designation.

Alex Kenny, one of David’s teammates at Fordham was not surprised at all by his friend’s success.

“He worked hard and was always doing the little things in order to not only make himself better, but the team as a whole,” said Kenny.

Awards are nothing new for David, who has earned a slew of them throughout his career.  Besides being named Atlantic-10 Player of the Week, David was also chosen one of the Rams team captains this season and went on to be named the team’s MVP at the end of this season. 

In 2011, David did not disappoint for the Rams once again.  He led the team with a .321 batting average and 21 multi-hit games.  Throughout the season, David also had separate 13 and nine game hitting streaks. 

Normally David was a catcher by trade, but this year in order to help his team, he also played first base and DH’d for the Rams. His sacrifice came at little surprise for his teammates.

“… but he was moved to first base in order to help the lineup as well as DH, all at which he excelled at,” said Kenny

It was David’s most productive season at Fordham since his freshman year.  During the 2008 season David played in over half the team’s games, his most until this season.  He also put up some of his best offensive numbers that season with three home runs and 21 RBI’s.

David’s major contributions have not come as a surprise to his coach at Fordham, Nicholas Restaino.

“His teammates looked up to him, he took no shortcuts and always put the necessary time into being successful,” said Restaino. 

Restaino admits it will be hard next season moving on without David in his lineup. 

“He was an extension of the coaching staff, a true teammate he also was our MVP , [he had] many clutch hits and lead the pitching staff with his work behind the plate at the catching position,” said Restaino.

Former Platt football coach Thomas Ryan saw the same hard work from David in his years on the football field at Platt. 

“Besides being a great student, Ryan (David) worked hard and had a great competitive nature,” said Ryan.

While at Platt, David excelled at both baseball and football as a captain for both teams. David was also a four year varsity starter for the baseball team and a three year varsity starter for the football team.   In his junior year on the baseball team he was named as the Panthers team MVP. 

At Platt David also succeeded in the classroom as well.  He was a member of the National Honors Society as well as serving on the student senate.

David had many offers of where to go play baseball in college but ultimately chose Fordham over other schools such as Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and Northeastern.

“I think Ryan (David) chose to play baseball at Fordham for two reasons,” said Ryan.  “First, they offered him a scholarship, and second that is where his father went to school and played.”

David graduated from Fordham on May 21st with a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Accounting. Though, he walked, he's still got one summer class yet to finish and is dividing his time between the Bronx and Meriden.

When that's done, he said, "my full time job will be looking for a full-time job."