Click here for complete 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball Teams as selected by CoSIDA
Senior outfielder Aaron Ivey of the University of Oklahoma and senior infielder Casey Jirsa of Ashland University head the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
A product of Oklahoma City, Okla., Ivey has been instrumental in helping the Sooners to a 34-24 record this season, advancing to the semifinals of the Big Ten 12 Conference Tournament. He has played in 54 games, with 37 starts, and is second on the team with a .351 average. Ivey has 53 hits, 35 runs, 13 RBI and leads the team with 23 stolen bases in 27 attempts. He also has a .979 fielding percentage. A 2006 Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Ivey owns a perfect 4.00 grade point average in Energy Management.
Jirsa was named to the All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams and the conference's Player of the Year as he led Ashland to a 38-19 record. The Tallmadge, Ohio, native is ranked eighth in NCAA Division II in batting average (.422), 23rd in slugging percentage (.697) and 24th in RBI. The repeat ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection batted .422 (78-of-185) with 10 home runs and 62 RBI. He also scored 50 runs with 19 doubles and a triple as he was named to the all-region first team for a second consecutive year. Jirsa, who led the GLIAC in batting average, slugging percentage, RBI, doubles and hits this season, set a Ashland single-game record for RBI when he drove in nine against Mercyhurst University in 2007. Jirsa has a 3.87 cumulative grad point average as an accounting major.
There were two repeat members from last year on the University Division team: senior outfielder Emeel Salem (Alabama) was selected to the first team and Ivey was selected to the second team.
Others on the 2006-07 University Division Academic All-America first team squad were: Justin Fiske (Texas State), Patrick Ezell (Southern Miss), Mitch Canham (Oregon State), Jeff Grantham (St. Johns), Brett Lilley (Notre Dame), Trey Sutton (Southern Miss), Justin Baum (Pacific), Erik Huber (Eastern Illinois), Kevin Weidlich (Troy) and Josh Yates (Arkansas State).
The second team was comprised of: Eitan Barbalat (Bradley), Ryne Tacker (Rice), Josh Plumaj (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Josh Stirneman (Houston), Bradley Suttle (Texas), Scott Boley (Toledo), Tyler Stovall (Central Michigan), Eric Cattoni (St. Marys (CA)), Steve Mignogna (Radford) and J.J. Eno (Brown).
Rounding out the University Division Academic All-America team were third team members Nick Hill (U.S. Military Academy), Jesse Craig (Brigham Young), Ryan Schreiter (Towson), Jeff Hehr (Eastern Michigan), Brian Friday (Rice), Brendon Hitchcock (Binghamton), Brett Scott (Kansas State), Matt Nohelty (Minnesota), James Conrad (Lafayette), Chris Swauger (The Citadel) and Jacob Howell (Ohio State).
There were five repeat members from last year on the college division team: Jirsa, senior infielder Skyler Stromsmoe (Southern Arkansas), junior infielder Andrew Bennett (Hamline), and senior outfielders Brandon Burchfield (Carson-Newman) and Dustin Jones (Wayne State).
Others on the College Division Academic All-America first-team squad were Keith Barrett (Ouachita Baptist), David Anderson (Dakota Wesleyan), Chris Rosenbaum (Tampa), Kyle Sherman (Ohio Wesleyan), Dan Wentzell (George Fox) and Zack Helm (Mount Vernon Nazarene).
The second team was comprised of Sam Mann (Washington & Jefferson), Ryan Decker (Mount Vernon Nazarene), Ryan Tryt (RIT), Sheldon Steiner (Wooster), Daniel Ziccardy (Shenandoah), Cody Lusero (Nebraska-Kearney), Bryan Donohue (George Fox), John Pacillo (Millsaps), Kevin Deao (Pittsburg State), Andrew Shaver (Lee) and Joe Bonyai (Gettysburg).
Rounding out the third team were Patrick Larm (Rockhurst), Paige Dumont (Sonoma State), Riley Bosch (St. Thomas (Minn.)), Paul Pentz (Pittsburgh-Johnstown), Darin Mastroianni (Southern Indiana), Justin Funk (Oklahoma City), Bennett Mayfield (Augusta State), Dan Weitzel (St. Norbert), Richard Hurd (Rhodes), Kirby Carr (Bethel (Minn.)), Rob Pietroforte (Johns Hopkins) and Josh Carter (Mount Olive).
The Academic All-America program annually honors over 1600 student-athletes 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. Since the program's 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.
To be eligible, a student-athlete 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.
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For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com or email rlipe@bentley.edu.