STANDISH, Maine - The 2016-17 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District™ Baseball Team has been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom and a pair of Saint Joseph's College players have been honored.
Seniors Taylor Black (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.) and Jameson Collins (Sandown, N.H.) have been named to the 12-member District 1 Team, which features student-athletes from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Both players are now eligible for even higher honors, as Academic All-District™ honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America® honorees will be selected later this month.
Black, an Exercise Science Major at Saint Joseph's, is currently hitting .431 (53-123) with 37 runs, 12 doubles, four triples, four homers, 44 RBI, and four stolen bases. A two-time All-Conference honoree and 2016 First Team All-GNAC selection, Black looks to claim his third GNAC All-Academic honor this spring.
Over his career, Black has hit .342 (167-488) with 127 runs, 28 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, 91 RBI, and 24 stolen bases in 154 games.
Also an Exercise Science Major, Collins is hitting .336 (44-131) with 32 runs, nine doubles, two triples, eight homers, and 44 RBI this season. A 2016 First Team All-Conference selection, Collins is in line to claim his third GNAC All-Academic accolade this spring.
In 110 career games, Collins is hitting .290 (95-328) with 57 runs, 16 doubles, two triples, 12 home runs, and 86 RBI.
Black and Collins are the only players hailing from a Maine college or university to collect 2016-17 Capital One Academic All-District® acclaim. They join Suffolk University catcher Matt Brenner on the short list of GNAC players to earn the high academic honor.
Including Black and Collins, six SJC baseball players have earned CoSIDA Academic All-District® acclaim as Taylor Reuillard '16, Nic Lops '16, Alex Valenti '15 and Chris Campbell '11 were also honored during their respective collegiate careers.
To be considered for the honor, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at their current institution. Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games and student-athletes are not eligible until they have completed one full calendar year at their current institution and have reached sophomore athletic eligibility.
The Academic All-District™ teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the sixth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America® Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
The Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.
For more information about the Academic All-District™ and Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
2017 Academic All-District™ Baseball Team
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
