DeGraaf and West Named to Academic All-America Team

2015 Capital One Academic All-America Baseball Teams I TU Honors Page

UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor University's Josh DeGraaf and Jake West were each recently named to the Capital One Academic All-America Team, as voted on and announced by the College of Sports Information Directors of America.

DeGraaf and West tied Taylor with Embry-Riddle, Oklahoma City and Mount Vernon Nazarene as the only schools with two Capital One Academic All-America recipients from among all NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions.

The 22 student-athletes to be recognized came from 18 different schools and combined for an average grade-point average of 3.71. DeGraaf's 3.92 GPA ranked tops among the four pitchers to be honored and was third-best on the 22-man list.

The list was dominated by seniors, with 15 of the 22 slots being awarded to fourth-year student-athletes. TU's West was one of only seven non-seniors to be honored from the College Division.

DeGraaf earned his third Capital One Academic All-America award and his second-straight First-Team Academic All-America nod with a cumulative 3.92 GPA in psychology. The Morris, Illinois native was a three-time Crossroads League Pitcher of the Year and a two-time winner of Taylor's Gates-Howard Award as the school's top male student-athlete of the year.

West claimed his first Capital One Academic All-America nod by being voted Second-Team Academic All-America with a 3.47 GPA in sport management. The Rensselaer, Indiana native was also named as an Honorable Mention All-Crossroads League performer in 2015.

The awards for DeGraaf and West bump Taylor's number of Capital One Academic All-America honors to nine for the 2014-2015 year. TU now boast 43 Academic All-Americans in school history, with seven-such honors in the history of the Taylor baseball program.