ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team
Selected by CoSIDA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Contact: Dick Lipe, Bentley College, 781-891-2334 or rlipe@bentley.edu
Charlestons Coker, Centrals Duerfeldt Head 2006
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball Teams
WALTHAM, Mass.-- Senior outfielder Phillip Coker of the College of Charleston and senior catcher Adam Duerfeldt of Central College (Iowa) head the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Coker was selected as the Academic All-America of the Year in the University Division. A product of Hanahan. S.C., Coker has been instrumental in helping the Cougars to a 43-15 record, an NCAA tournament berth and a third consecutive Southern Conference titles. He has started and played in 58 games and enters the NCAA tourney with a .333 average, with two home runs, 33 RBI, 52 runs and 16 doubles. Coker leads the SoCon with 33 steals.
Coker ranks in the top five in eight C of C career lists, including: hits (second), runs (third), stolen bases (third), games played (fifth) and at-bats (fifth).
A first team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America for the second straight year, Coker owns a 3.93 grade point average in Biochemistry.
"This is a great honor, said Coker. Playing at the College of Charleston has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. This award is just another great experience and one I'm very proud of because it represents the hard work I've put in the classroom and the baseball field."
Duerfeldt was selected as the Academic All-America of the Year in the College Division. Duerfeldt was named the NCAA Division III Central Region Position Player of the Year as the Dutch went 26-14, breaking the colleges season wins mark. Central also won a share of its first Iowa Conference baseball crown since 1975.
Also the Iowa Conference and Central College MVP, Duerfeldt set 17 school records for the Dutch, including highest season batting average (.481), highest career average (.384), highest season on-base percentage (.543), highest season slugging percentage (.785), highest career slugging percentage (.594), most career hits (207), and most career RBI (207). He had 65 hits this season, with 11 doubles, six triples and six homers and his .481 average ranked fourth in Division III. He has a 3.87 grade point average in chemistry.
This is a tremendous honor, said Duerfeldt. The reason I came to Central was because I knew my baseball career couldnt last forever and I needed to be prepared for life outside of baseball. With the science facilities and professors Central has and the ability they have to help get funding for research, I knew it was a good choice academically. But I was also able to continue playing the game Ive enjoyed playing since I was six years old.
There were six repeat members from last year on the university division team: Coker and senior infielder Mike Priest (Campbell) were selected to the first team, senior infielder Andy Hunter (Minnesota), senior infielder Steve Maiolo (Duquesne) and junior outfielder Drew Stubbs (Texas) were named to the second team and senior infielder Zach Daeges (Creighton) was selected to the third team.
Others on the University Division Academic All-America first team squad were: Edward Degerman (Rice), Ryan Bird (St. Louis), Brandon Buckman (Nebraska), Zach Dillon (Baylor), Ryan Mitchell (Lipscomb), Mike Ambrose (Charlotte), Marc Maddox (Southern Miss), Jacob Stover (Arkansas-Little Rock), Emeel Salem (Alabama ) and Chris Carlson (New Mexico).
The second team was comprised of: Patrick Currin (UNC-Greensboro), Clint Crosier (Indiana), Brandon Caipen (Youngstown State), Josiah Glafenhein (East Tennessee), Aaron Ivey and Ryan Rohlinger (Oklahoma), Collin Cowgill (Kentucky) and Matt McGraw (Maine).
Rounding out the University Division Academic All-America team were third team members Darren ODay (Florida), Matt Dobbins (Jacksonville), Mike Armstrong (Mercer), Matt Capece (Bucknell), Greg Lopez (Notre Dame), Jackson Brennan (Gonzaga), Ryan Rizzo (Quinnipiac), Steven Blackwood (Georgia Tech) and Jack Nelson (Cincinnati).
There were eight repeat members from last year on the college division team: Duerfeldt, senior infielder Justin Gordon (Emory), senior outfielder Damon Stoke (LeTourneau) and senior utility/designated hitter Andrew Handorf (Edgewood) were named the first team, senior infielder Andrew Wong (Lawrence) and senior outfielder Chuck Brehm (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) were named to the second team, and senior infielders Alex Shelton (Westminster (Mo.) and Ben Sherer (Gustavus Adolphus) were selected to the third team.
Others on the College Division Academic All-America first-team squad were Colby Parks (Rockhurst), Randy Black (Texas-Dallas), Jared Bogan (Wabash), Jared Burek (Mesa State), Casey Jirsa (Ashland), Tim Meehan (Stevens Tech), and Brent Vuyovich (Virginia Wesleyan).
The second team was comprised of Ted Serro (Franklin & Marshall), Kevin Smith (Union (Ky.)), A.J. Jezierski (Denison), Mike Ritter (Grove City), Nick Gianou (Dakota Wesleyan), Brad Smith (Pittsburg State), Brandon Burchfield (Carson-0Newman), Andy Campbell (St. John Fisher) and Randy Beilsmith (Truman State).
Rounding out the third team were Ben Jones (Apprentice), Casey Plant (St. Edwards), Brian Hendrickson (Southern Arkansas), John Hehn (Christian Brothers), Andrew Bennett (Hamline), Skyler Stromsmoe (Southern Arkansas), Jason Witzberger (MIT), Dustin Jones (Wayne State) and Joel Wells (Abilene Christian).
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the programs inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
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For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com or email rlipe@bentley.edu.