Capital One Academic All-America Teams

WINONA, Minn. — Ben Buerkle's (Roseville, Minn.) 2015 regular-season numbers as a member of the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team were jaw-dropping, to say the least.
 
Buerkle, who set single-season school records with 46 runs and 47 RBIs this season, led the Cardinals in virtually every offensive category in helping Saint Mary's to a 24-12 overall record—the most wins since the 1995 Cardinal squad went 24-11.
 
And his post-season numbers are becoming equally as impressive.
 
In fact, when it comes to post-season awards, the sophomore is a perfect 7-for-7.
 
On Tuesday, Buerkle collected his second All-American honor in as many days—and his third All-American honor of the post-season—being named 2015 Capital One Academic All-America® Division III Third-Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
 
Buerkle's Capital One Academic All-America® honor is the latest in a long line of post-season accolades for the Cardinal sophomore, who, since the regular-season ended, has also garnered ABCA/Rawlings Second-Team All-American, D3baseball.com Third-Team All-American, ABCA/Rawlings First-Team All-Midwest Region, D3baseball.com First-Team All-Midwest Region, First-Team All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Capital One Academic All-District 6 honors.
 
Buerkle—a business management major with a 3.60 grade-point-average—proved to be opposing pitchers' worst nightmare in 2015, leading the team in batting average (.462), hits (61), runs (46), doubles (11), triples (4), home runs (7), RBIs (47), total bases (101), slugging percentage (.765), and on-base percentage (.517). Buerkle—who hit for a doubleheader cycle vs. Carleton on April 25, recording two singles, a double, a triple and a home run, not to mention nine RBIs—put together a team-high 20 multiple-hit games, owned a team-best 14 multiple-RBI contests, and had a hit in 34 of the team's 36 contests.
 
In his first two seasons with the Cardinals, Buerkle has put together season-opening hitting streaks of 20 and 15 games, respectively, has had at least one hit in 71 of the 76 games he's played, and has been held off the base paths just twice in 76 career games.
 
Buerkle was one of just three players from the MIAC among the 33 selected to the three Capital One Academic All-America® teams, being joined by Saint John's Brett Becker and Logan Hershey, who were both Second-Teamers.
 
John Coleman of Clarkson University was named the Capital One Division III Academic All-America® of the Year. Coleman led the Golden Knights with a .437 batting average (52-for-119) this season as Clarkson posted a 24-9 record. He scored 35 runs in 2015 with 16 RBIs. The leadoff hitter for Clarkson, Coleman collected eight doubles and six triples as he compiled a .605 slugging percentage. He drew 15 walks this season and posted a .525 on-base percentage. 
 
Joining Coleman on the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America® Division III First-Team are pitchers Blake Stevens of Birmingham-Southern College and Cory Vogeli of Misericordia University (Pa.), catchers Hank Parsley from Ferrum College and Carthage College's Nick  Schmidlkofer, and infielders Andrew Linn of Wesleyan, Kerrigan Cain of Case Western Reserve University, and Parker Tew from MIT. The outfield includes MIT's Hayden Cornwell, Washington (Mo.) University's Chris Lowery, and Dan Saccocio of SUNY-Oswego, while Ty Compton from Otterbein College is the designated hitter.
 
Representing the Capital One Academic All-America® Division III Second-Team with Becker and Hershey are pitchers Dan Fein of Salisbury University and Dan Scheibe from Whitworth University, and infielder's Kyle Mellinger of Wheaton (Ill.) and  Messiah College's Joseph Saufley. The designated hitter is Zach Keller of Frostburg State University, while Hiram College's Jaren Bell, Alex Holbert from Elizabethtown College, and Ryan Kemp of Wartburg College make up the outfield.
 
The 11-member Capital One Academic All-America® Division III Third-Team consists of pitchers Tommy Bergjans of Haverford College and Anthony Konopaski from Pacific Lutheran University and Tufts University catcher Bryan Egan. The infield includes Pomona-Pitzer College's Sam Fox, Kyle Hardacker of Kenyon College, Zack Kessinger from Washington (Mo.), and Mikole Pierce of the UW-Whitewater. The outfield consists of Buerkle, Southwestern (Texas) University's Will Cates, and Derek Hug of Heidelberg College, while McMurry University's Ben Douglas is the designated hitter.   
 
Of the 33 members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Division III baseball team, 14 have a 3.90 GPA or better, while five of this year's honorees boast a perfect 4.0 GPA
 
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.