NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior catcher Buster Posey of Florida State University and junior outfielder Gabe MacDougall of Lynn University head the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Baseball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Posey was selected the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® of the Year in the University Division. A product of Leesburg, Ga., Posey has been instrumental in helping the Seminoles to a 48-10 record and the No. 4 ranking in the nation. He has started 53 games behind the plate, and led the nation in five offensive statistical categories as of the May 19 national rankings: batting average (.465), hits (99), total bases (184), on-base percentage (.565) and slugging percentage (.864). He also ranks in the top 10 in runs per game and total runs scored.
In the ACC, the Posey also leads in eight categories while ranking in the top 10 in three others. He finished the regular season batting .479 in ACC games only. The right hander has also made eight appearances on the mound and is a perfect 6-for-6 in save opportunities. Posey has struck out 10 batters and has not allowed a run in 7.1 innings of work.
Posey is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, Golden Spikes Award and Johnny Bench Award, while on the revised watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award.
There were seven repeat members from last year on the University Division team: senior infielders Jeff Grantham (St. John’s) and Brett Lilley (Notre Dame) were selected to the first team for the second consecutive year. Senior pitcher Eitan Barbalat (Bradley) was selected to the first team after earning second team honors last year. Graduate infielder Brett Scott (Kansas State) and senior outfielder Chris Swauger (The Citadel) were named to the second team after earning third team honors in 2007. Also, senior infielder J.J. Eno (Brown) was named to the third team after earning second team honors in 2007 and senior outfielder Tyler Stovall (Central Michigan) was selected to the third team after earning second team accolades last year.
Others on the 2007-08 University Division Academic All-America® first team squad were: Jason Buursma (Bucknell), Collin Cowgill (Kentucky), Randy Moley (St. Bonaventure), Rob Musgrave (Wichita State), Matt Nohelty (Minnesota), Thomas Nelson (Tennessee Tech) and Shane Peterson (Long Beach State).
The second team was comprised of: Gordon Beckham (Georgia), Charlie Blackmon (Georgia Tech), George Brown (St. John’s), Mike Jaworksi (Northwestern State), Brian Morrell (Eastern Illinois), Preston Paramore (Arizona State), Craig Parry (South Dakota State), Conor Reardon (Brown), Steve Susdorf (Fresno State), Scott and Swauger.
Rounding out the University Division Academic All-America® team were third team members: Andrew Albers (Kentucky), Ben Carlson (Missouri State), David Ciarlo (Nevada), Jon Dupski (Towson), Brandon Eller (Arkansas State), Justin Ellrich (Kansas), Mike Kalina (Northwestern), Matt Maher (Fairleigh Dickinson), Kole Zimmerman (North Dakota State), Eno and Stovall.
Gabe MacDougall was selected the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® of the Year in the College Division. MacDougall was named to the All-Sunshine Conference, Daktronics All-South and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-South first teams in 2008 as he batted .389 (75-of-193) with 20 doubles and a school-record 21 home runs. The junior from Oak Run, Calif., tied a school record with 65 RBI while scoring 65 more for the Knights. MacDougall, who has recorded 22 multi-hit and 18 multi-RBI games this season, recorded a .829 slugging percent with a .489 on-base percentage. MacDougall ranks second in NCAA Division II in home runs per game (0.40) and was named the Ping Baseball National Player of the Week during 2008. MacDougall, who had seperate hitting streaks of 17 and 19 games this season, has a 4.00 cumulative grade point average as a psychology major.
There were three repeat members from last year on the college division team: senior outfielders Rob Pietroforte (Johns Hopkins) and Richard Hurd (Rhodes) and senior Ryan Tryt (Rochester Institute of Technology).
Others on the College Division Academic All-America® first-team squad were Christopher Mock (Greensboro), Tyler Whitaker (Rogers State), Jason Sherrer (Mount Olive), Bryan Cook (Nova Southeastern), Dustin Walls (Incarnate Word), Jared Thoele (Illinois College), Dustin Morrow (Tusculum), Andrew Frezza (Barry), Pietroforte, Robby Finnell (Ozarks).
The second team was comprised of Jason Decker (Mount Vernon Nazarene), Ryan Kealy (Johns Hopkins), James Clear (Denison), Tryt, Brandon Mauck (Otterbein), Cory Clark (Nova Southeastern), Brent Voorhees (McMurry), William Kropp (College of New Jersey), Brian Majors (Emporia State), David Nypaver (Thiel), Shane Wolf (Ithaca), Dan Kozloski (Regis).
Rounding out the third team were Michael Matsui (Rose-Hulman), Tony Petulla (Penn State – Altoona), Daniel Poindexter (Greensboro), Jonas Fester (Johns Hopkins), Justin Champagne (Scranton), Neal Allar (Amherst), Hurd, Dan Morrison (Thiel)), Cody Kidd (Baldwin-Wallace) and Mike Broccolino (St. Mary’s, Md.).
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. 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.
ESPN The Magazine – winner of the 2006 and 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence – is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.9 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com or e-mail
rlipe@bentley.edu.
View Complete College and University Teams