University of Florida infielder Josh Rivera was named to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Community Service Team on Wednesday, as announced by the conference office.
Rivera is one of 14 student-athletes to be named to the Community Service Team, which recognizes one player from each SEC program for contributions made to the community through extensive service efforts.
While serving as Florida's starting shortstop, Rivera has served as leader both on and off the field. His community service involvement features 20.5 hours of contributions to the local community in the spring semester alone.
Rivera has volunteered at Lake Forest Elementary with the Lunch Buddies Mentor Program, serving as a role model for the youth of Gainesville. He also assisted with the Gators Tracks program, which provides shoes for children in the Gainesville community. Rivera assisted Gators Tracks by helping package the shoes and making various deliveries to seven different local schools.
Additionally, Rivera has been involved with the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank and with card preparation at Shands Hospital.
In addition to his efforts off the field, Rivera has been a staple in the Florida lineup the past three years, playing in 120 games including 117 starts. The Avon Park, Fla. native is a career .265/.349/.424 hitter with 15 home runs, two triples, 18 doubles, 73 runs, 61 RBI and five steals.
So far this season, the Gator shortstop has played in 50 of a possible 52 games including 49 starts, and is slashing .269/.365/.457 with a career-high eight home runs, 31 runs scored and 26 RBI.
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