June 6, 2018

Adkins, Patton and Watson Named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

AUSTIN, Texas – Taylor University's Jared Adkins, Matt Patton and Tanner Watson were named as CoSIDA Google Cloud First-Team Academic All-Americans, as announced on Monday by the College of Sports Information Directors of America.

The prestigious 2017-2018 Academic All-American Baseball Team College Division consisted of an 11-man First-Team and an 11-man Second-Team, with Taylor claiming three spots on the First-Team to lead the nation as the only program with a trio of student-athletes to receive Academic All-America recognition.

Adkins posted a 3.90 grade-point average in exercise science and hit .277 with 39 runs, 16 doubles, seven home runs and 31 stolen bases during his senior season. The speedy outfielder ranked No. 17 in the NAIA in steals during his final collegiate campaign.

Patton posted a 3.52 GPA in accounting, while going 10-3 on the mound with a 1.86 earned-run average and 102 strikeouts in 96.2 innings of work. The senior ace finished the year at No. 5 in the NAIA with 0.93 walks per nine innings, No. 8 in ERA, No. 17 in wins and No. 25 in innings pitched.

Watson posted a 3.75 GPA in finance to repeat his 2017 Academic All-America nod. The senior catcher batted .341 with 15 extra-base hits, 37 runs batted in and a 44.7-percent caught stealing rate behind the plate during his final collegiate season, ranking No. 5 in the NAIA with 488 total chances and No. 8 with 435 putouts.

Adkins, Patton and Watson join Grant Hohlbein of football and Lauren Engelkes of women's soccer as the five TU student-athletes to be named as First-Team Academic All-Americans during the 2017-2018 year.

Taylor now boasts 70 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in school history, with 40 First-Team selections.

The TU baseball program now has 11 Academic All-Americans in its history, with five First-Team standouts. The trio of honors marks the first time that Taylor baseball has secured three awards in the same year, with Watson joining Josh DeGraaf (2013, 2014, 2015) as the only repeat award winner in program history.

The CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America award is voted on by members of CoSIDA, recognizing the finest student-athletes from around the nation at NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions. A student-athlete must be nominated by their Sports Information Director, must have reached sophomore status academically with a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average and must be a key contributor in order to be eligible for the honor.