15 Jayhawks earn Academic All-Big 12 honors
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas baseball team saw a record 15 members of its program recognized by the Big 12 Conference as the league office unveiled its 2019 Academic All-Big 12 Baseball Team Tuesday afternoon.
First team honors included 10 players while the other five earned Second Team honors. Junior shortstop Benjamin Sems (Architecture & Design), senior right fielder Blake Shinkle (Business-Information Systems), junior pitcher Gabriel Sotomayor (Business-Finance), redshirt-sophomore pitcher Jonah Ulane (Business Finance), and junior pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn (Business Administration) earned repeat honors.
“Our academic advisor (assistant athletics director) Glenn Quick, does a great job with our players,”. “We want guys who want to graduate from this great University and represent our program and athletic department in a first-class manner after graduation, and Glenn helps facilitate that. He puts countless hours in with our guys and we expect them to be successful in every aspect of being a student-athlete.” -Head Coach Ritch Price
Joining the players with First Team honors listed above are junior catcher Brooks Asher (Business Administration), redshirt-junior pitcher Blake Goldsberry (Sport Management), sophomore third baseman Skyler Messinger (Sport Management), sophomore first baseman Nolan Metcalf (Sport Management), and junior left fielder Brett Vosik (Business-Finance).
Redshirt-junior pitcher Ryan Cyr (Business Administration), sophomore pitcher Daniel Hegarty(Sport Management), senior centerfielder Rudy Karre (Sport Management), senior pitcher Brandon Ponticelli (Liberal Arts & Sciences) and redshirt-sophomore right fielder Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi (Sport Management) earned Second Team honors.
The 15 Jayhawks accounted for 15.8 percent of the 95 first and second-team members, with Baylor leading all squads with 21 total.
To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 20 percent of their team’s scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA while the second team selections hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
Kansas wraps up its regular season with the Dillons Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State May 17-19 at Hoglund Ballpark, before the Big 12 Baseball Championship kicks off in Oklahoma City the following week.
