FRISCO, Texas – Paced by a pair of first-team selections, Southeastern Louisiana University placed three student-athletes on the 2010 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference All-Academic Baseball Team in a release by the league office on Wednesday.
Named to the first-team were catcher
Josh Cryer and outfielder
Cody Gougler. Joining the duo as a second-team selection was pitcher
Tyler Watkins. Cryer was one of three players on the 24-man team to repeat as members on the 2010 squad joining Tye Throneberry of Central Arkansas and Ryan Rummel of UTSA.
Cryer, who carries a 4.0 grade point average in accounting, was selected to the All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year after hitting .312 on the season for the Lions with five home runs and 46 RBI. The Leesville native was named third-team All-Southland Conference last month after posting career highs in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and stolen bases.
The junior tied a career-high with 22 hit-by-pitches and posted 16 multi-hit games, including a 4-for-4 performance at Stephen F. Austin. Cryer, who also was named to the CoSIDA All-Academic District VI squad, hit a team-high .342 (.342-4-31) for Southeastern in Southland Conference games.
Gougler, a sophomore from Huntsville, Texas, hit a team-high .337 on the season and led Southeastern in on-base percentage and walks. A 3.53 student-athlete in Sports Management, Gougler finished second on the team and fourth in the Southland Conference in runs scored (64) and was one of four Lions to record 70 hits on the season.
He finished the season tied for third on the team with 20 multi-hit games, including a 5-for-5 effort at LSU. Gougler reached base safely 10 consecutive times over a three-game span last month and helped fuel Southeastern to a three-game sweep earlier in the season at Mississippi State.
Watkins, a junior from Petal, Miss., went 6-3 on the mound with a 3.80 earned run average and one save for Southeastern. The right-hander appeared in 19 games with 13 starts and finished second on the team in strikeouts and fourth in wins.
Watkins, a 3.33 student-athlete in General Studies, tossed a complete-game seven-hitter, allowing an unearned run, in a win at Stephen F. Austin and pitched seven innings, scattering eight hits and fanning five, in earning a win over Northwestern State in the Southland Conference Tournament.
Northwestern State’s Eric DeBlanc was named the Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday in conjunction with the release of the All-Academic Baseball Teams.
DeBlanc, a native of Scott, carries a 3.79 grade-point average in Biology and is the second Northwestern State player to be selected baseball student-athlete of the year joining Bobby Barbier in 2006.
A first-team all-conference selection in the outfield, DeBlanc finished with a .382 batting average ranked second in the league and set the Northwestern record with a hit in 28 consecutive games. His 83 hits tied for sixth in the conference and are the fourth-most in a single season in school history. An ABCA All-South Central Region second-team selection, DeBlanc hit six home runs with 39 RBI, had 15 doubles, four triples and was a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases en route to leading the Demons to a second-place finish and a conference-record 17th Southland tournament appearance.
Six members received automatic selections, three of which were CoSIDA Academic All-District VI honorees. Cryer (4.00) received first-team merits while UT Arlington senior Jason Mitchell and Texas State sophomore Tyler Sibley were voted to the second-team. Joining DeBlanc from the all-conference automatic selections are Texas State senior Kyle Livingstone and sophomore Kyle Kubitza
Texas State led all schools with five selections including four first-team members. UT Arlington had four and UCA and Southeastern both had three. Lamar, Northwestern State and UTSA had two members named and Nicholls, SFA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi each had one.
Established in the 2002-03 academic year, the conference honors one student-athlete from each of the 17 championship sports who achieves excellence in academics, athletics and community/campus service.
The student-athlete of the year, selected by the league's awards committee, must have attained athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution, possess at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and demonstrate extracurricular service at his campus and or community.
The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.
Included in Capital One Bank's support of the Southland Conference Academic Awards Program is the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship, the All-Academic Teams, the Student-Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete Award and the Commissioner's Honor Roll.
2010 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic Teams
First Team
Name, University, Class, Hometown, GPA, Major/Minor
* Eric DeBlanc, Northwestern State, Sr., Scott, La., 3.79, Biology
Josh Cryer, Southeastern, Jr., Leesville, La., 4.0, Accounting
Jason Mitchell, UT Arlington, Sr., Phoenix, Ariz., 3.50, Economics/Business Administration
Kyle Kubitza, Texas State, So., Frisco, Texas, 3.04, Exercise Sports Science/Math
Kyle Livingstone, Texas State, Sr., Fort Worth, Texas, 3.33, Marketing
Tyler Sibley, Texas State, So., Frisco, Texas, 3.92, Exercise Sports Science/Business
Jeff McVaney, Texas State, So., Texas State, Houston, Texas, 3.74, Management
Jarid Scarafiotti, Stephen F. Austin, So., Shreveport, La., 3.75, Mathmatics/Finance
Tye Throneberry, Central Arkansas, Sr., Pine Bluff, Ark., 3.67, Biology
Kevin Clarke, UTSA, Sr., Huntsville, Texas, 3.76, Business Management
Rett Varner, UT Arlington, Sr., Trophy Club, Texas, 3.02, Exercise Science
Cody Gougler, Southeastern, So., Huntsville, Texas, 3.53, Sports Management
Second Team
Name, University, Class, Hometown, GPA, Major/Minor
Ryan Zimmermann, Northwestern State, Sr., Fremont, Calif., 3.14, Psychology
Ryan Rummel, UTSA, Sr., Uvalde, Texas, 3.33, Accounting
Eric Harrington, Lamar, So., Groves, Texas, 3.26, Kinesiology
Jordan Vaughn, UT Arlington, Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo., 3.62, Business Management
Beau Faulk, Nicholls, So., Houston, Texas, 3.48, Business Administration
Garret Carruth, Texas State, Sr., Lewisville, Texas, 3.33, Exercise Sports Science/Business
Omar Garcia, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Jr., El Paso, Texas, 3.67, Kinesiology
Blake Roberts, Central Arkansas, So., Springdale, Ark., 3.66, Business
Zack Dickson, Central Arkansas, Jr., Oakville, Ontario, 3.67, Mass Communications
Tyler Watkins, Southeastern, Jr., Petal, Miss., 3.33, General Studies
Mark Picca, UT Arlington, Jr., Arlington, Texas, 3.78, Finance
Cory Holley, Lamar, Sr., Houston, Texas, 3.68, General Studies
* - Student-Athlete of the Year