2014 Capital One Academic All-America® Baseball Teams release dates: 
College Division Team: release/teams
NCAA Division III Team: release/teams
NCAA Division II Team: release/teams
NCAA Division I Team: below
• Capital One Academic All-America® website
• Capital One Academic All-America® Baseball Division I Teams PDF version Word doc version
YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Outfielder
Tim Colwell, a senior at North Dakota State University, leads the 2014 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Baseball team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
A zoology major with a perfect 4.00 G.P.A., Colwell is the Academic All-America® of the Year for Division I baseball. The Shoreview, Minnesota, native is a three-time first team Academic All-America® selection.
The 2014 Summit League Player of the Year,
Colwell led the Bison to their first-ever Summit League tournament title and first appearance in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship since NDSU reclassified from Division II in 2004. He is hitting .376 with 22 RBI and 19 stolen bases this season. Colwell holds the North Dakota State career records for triples (18), hits (288), stolen bases (52), stolen base attempts (67), at-bats (823), runs scored (171), and games played (209), and is tied for second in sacrifice flies (10). He also ranks third in games started (206) and total bases (372) and had started 163 straight games.
A three-time All-Summit League first team honoree, Colwell was one of 10 national finalists for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award. He is a three-time Summit League Distinguished Scholar and has been named to the Summit League Academic Honor Roll three times and to the Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence twice.
In addition to Colwell,
outfielder Jeff Keller of Dartmouth College, outfielder Derrick Workman of Mercer University and
infielder Kevin Swick of the University of Southern California are repeat selections to the Capital One Academic All-America® Division I baseball team. Keller and Workman were first team honorees in 2013, while Swick was named to the third team.
The 11 members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Division I baseball first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.89.
A senior economics major,
Keller boasts a 3.95 G.P.A. He was named second team All-Ivy this year after leading the league in doubles (15), ranking third in runs (29) and ranking in the top eight in stolen bases (11), batting average (.308) and slugging percentage (.466). One of 30 Senior CLASS candidates, Keller led the nation in doubles per game and ranked fifth in slugging percentage in 2013, when he was a Louisville Slugger honorable mention All-American. The Atherton, California, native was also named All-New England, second team American Baseball Coaches Association All-Northeast Region and first team All-Ivy last year as a junior.
Workman, a senior majoring in communications, has a perfect 4.00 G.P.A. He hit .294 this season, with a .333 average since March 7. The Atlantic Sun Conference active career leader in games played (229), at-bats (835), runs scored (146), hits (272) and walks (101), Workman is Mercer’s all-time hits leader. His 421 career total bases also makes him one of just five active players in all of NCAA Division I with 400 or more career total bases. A native of Acworth, Georgia, Workman is the 2014 A-Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
A senior business major with a 3.83 G.P.A.,
Swick earned his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor in 2014. A psychology minor, the La Cañada, California, native was named a Renaissance Scholar for distinguishing himself with a major and a minor in widely separate fields of study. Swick is a two-time USC Male Trojan of the Year, given to the student-athlete that best demonstrates the qualities of a Trojan. One of 30 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, he is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, President of USC's Value Investing Club and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.
An English and history double major with a 3.85 G.P.A.,
John Curtiss of the University of Texas will graduate in August, prior to his senior year. The Southlake, Texas, native has eight saves in 10 opportunities this season and was named team Academic MVP. Curtiss has been a member of the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll every semester and is the recipient of the Lorene L. Rogers Scholar-Athlete Award presented to the graduating male and female student-athlete with the highest overall GPA.
Trey Lambert, a senior health promotion major at Liberty University boasts a 3.94 G.P.A. and has led the Flames to a 41-16 record and the Big South regular-season title. The 2014 Big South Pitcher of the Year and Big South Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Lambert led the league in wins (11), ranked fourth in ERA (2.10) and fifth in innings pitched (102.2). A two-time member of the Big South Presidential Honor Roll, the Tazewell, Virginia, native has been a Dean's List member six semesters and earned the 2014 Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award, honoring the top graduating senior student-athlete at Liberty.
A senior health sciences major with a perfect 4.0 G.P.A.,
Russell Vaughan of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has improved his batting average by 137 points and nearly tripled his RBI total from 2013 this season. A native of Mesa, Arizona, he led the team in on-base percentage and drew 32 walks on the year. An All-Southland Conference third team selection, Vaughan ranked eighth in the league in conference games in batting average (.374), first in on-base percentage (.488) and fifth in slugging percentage (.535).
Alex Close, one of just two juniors on the first team, has a 3.84 G.P.A. as a business administration major at Liberty. A first team All-Big South infielder, he ranked third in the conference in RBI (45) and in home runs (8) and sixth in slugging percentage (.505). The Hoover, Alabama, native has been named to the Dean’s List six times and was a 2012-13 Big South Presidential Honor Member. Close was a 2012 Louisville Slugger and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman All-American and the 2012 Big South Freshman of the Year after setting the school and conference records with 14 home runs.
A senior accounting major with a 3.67 G.P.A.,
Michael Massi of Mercer leads the team with a .346 batting average. One of 16 players nationally named as a finalist for the 2014 Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award, he was voted the Atlantic-Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year, was named first team All-A-Sun and was an A-Sun All-Academic selection. Massi, a native of Powder Springs, Georgia, is listed in the top-10 in the A-Sun in several categories including runs scored (T-6th – 51), on-base percentage (8th - .424), hits (8th – 74), total bases (9th – 106) and walks (T-10th – 26). Massi also set the Mercer single-season assist record with 198.
Caleb Palensky of the University of Nebraska Omaha boasts a 3.94 G.P.A. as an exercise science major. He has helped his team to back-to-back Summit League regular-season championships and ranks second in the conference with 40 RBI. Palensky was named first team All-Summit after leading the conference in league games only in doubles (8), RBI (25), total bases (57) and slugging percentage (.671). A member of the Chancellor's List and Dean's List, the Papillion, Nebraska, native was named to the Summit League Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence and the Summit League Academic Honor Roll in 2013.
A senior pre-dental major with a 3.81 G.P.A.,
Derek Gibson of Southeast Missouri State University rounds out the first team. He was named first team All-Ohio Valley Conference this season for the second time in his career. In 2014, Gibson was named OVC Player of the Week three times, most of any player in the conference, and was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, the Heisman Trophy of baseball. A native of Bonne Terre, Missouri, he led the nation in sacrifice flies (11), ranked third in both hits (88) and RBI (66), and sixth in batting average (.411).
The second team consists of pitchers
Doug Ashby of Baylor University and
Gage Smith of Florida State University; catcher
Grayson Greiner of the University of South Carolina; infielders
Danny Diekroeger of Stanford University,
Connor Panas of Canisius College,
Scott Schaub of Jacksonville University and repeat selection
Tyler Vaughn of Troy University; outfielders
Collin Forgey of Saint Joseph’s University, repeat selection
Collin Slaybaugh of Washington State University and
Evan Stephens of Wake Forest University; and designated hitter
Kyle Convissar of the University of Maryland.
Pitchers
Rohn Pierce of Canisius and
Ian Tompkins of Western Kentucky University top the third team. Catcher and three-time honoree
Zach Fisher of Towson University joins infielders
Jason Blum of Southeast Missouri State University,
Sam Haggerty of the University of New Mexico,
Kevin Nutter of the College of William & Mary and
Taylor Sparks of the University of California, Irvine on the third team. Outfielders
Austin Cousino of the University of Kentucky,
Patrick Riewer of the University of North Dakota and
DJ Stewart of Florida State round out the third team, along with designated hitter
Matt Parrish of Campbell University.
Twelve student-athletes named to one of the three Capital One Academic All-America® Division I teams led their respective institutions to berths in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship that begin this weekend at 16 regional sites. They include Colwell from North Dakota State, Curtiss from Texas, Close and Lambert from Liberty, Smith and Stewart from Florida State, Greiner from South Carolina, Diekroeger from Stanford, Convissar from Maryland, Sparks from UC Irvine, Cousino from Kentucky, and Parrish from Campbell.
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To be eligible for Academic All-America ® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 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 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America ® Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com or
www.capitaloneacademicallamerica.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michael MacEachern, Young Harris College (
mfmaceachern@yhc.edu) (706) 379-5106
Academic All-America ® Vice Co-Chair for Publicity/Communications
Hope Shuler, Western Athletic Conference (
hshuler@wac.org) (303) 962-4213
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity