14 Triangle-area players make All-ACC Academic baseball team

Duke's Aaron Cohn.
Duke’s Aaron Cohn.
Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Gage Smith of Florida State leads the sport’s All-ACC Academic Baseball Team, as announced today by Commissioner John Swofford.

A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Smith graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in business marketing and management following the spring semester. He was selected to the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team for 2014 and earned FSU Dean’s List honors in the fall of 2013. He has been named the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year the past two seasons.

On the field, Smith was voted to the All-ACC Third Team, finished the season with a 5-2 record and ranked 10th in the league with a 2.39 ERA in 64.0 innings pitched. He led the ACC in appearances with 40, marking the third consecutive year that he has led the league.

Fifteen players were selected to the All-ACC Academic Team after being named to the All-ACC Team: Clemson’s Steven Duggar, Tyler Krieger, and Matthew Crownover; Duke’s Aaron Cohn, Florida State’s Josh Delph, Luke Weaver, and Smith; Georgia Tech’s Daniel Spingola, Miami’s Bryan Garcia, North Carolina’s Trent Thornton, NC State’s Andrew Knizner, and Virginia’s Mike Papi, Daniel Pinero, and Brandon Waddell; and Virginia Tech’s Mark Zagunis.

Three players – Weaver, Garcia, and Papi – also collected All-America accolades, while Knizner and Pinero are Freshman All-Americans on the All-ACC Academic Team. Maryland’s Kyle Convissar, Wake Forest’s Evan Stephens, and Florida State’s Smith were previously named Capital One Academic All-Americans.

Duke and Florida State lead all ACC programs with eight players recognized, followed by Wake Forest with five and Clemson and Virginia with four apiece.

Maryland’s Convissar earned his fourth career selection to the ACC All-Academic Team. Eight other players were recognized for the third time.

The ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award was established in September 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the award must have maintained a 3.0 grade point average for their career as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters.

To be eligible for consideration for the All-ACC Academic team, a student-athlete, regardless of classification, must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his academic career.

Aaron Cohn, Sr., Duke History
Ryan Deitrich, GS, Duke Master of Management Studies
Robert Huber, Sr., Duke*** Computer Science
Mark Lumpa, Sr., Duke Economics
Michael Matuella, So., Duke Economics
Andy Perez, Jr., Duke Psychology
Michael Rosenfeld, Sr., Duke** Psychology
Trent Swart, Jr., Duke*** Public Policy Studies
Andrew Knizner, Fr., NC State Industrial Engineering
Eric Peterson, Jr., NC State Sport Management
Dale Thomas, Sr., NC State** Park/Natural Resources
Benton Moss, Jr., North Carolina*** Business Administration
Tyler Ramirez, Fr., North Carolina Undecided
Trent Thornton, So., North Carolina** Undecided

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.