Cook Earns First Team CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Thanks to sitting second on the USC Upstate baseball team in batting average (.317) homers (three) and RBI (27), all while maintaining a 3.82 GPA as a business management major, sophomore Tyler Cook (Bloomington, Ill./University) has earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 3 First Team University Division honors, CoSIDA announced on Thursday evening. Cook is the first baseball player in school history to earn First Team CoSIDA All-District honors and he is the fourth Upstate student-athlete to earn University Division First Team honors, joining men's basketball players Luke Payne '08 and Nick Schnieders '10 and women's tennis player Diana Martinez '08.

Cook will now be placed in the pool for Academic All-America honors, competing against the other first team selections in eight districts. The ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America program was put in place by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to honor those student-athletes who excel in athletics and in the classroom. Cook earned First Team All-District honors on the University Division in District 3, which consists of all NCAA Division I institutions in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

Cook, after hitting .176 as a redshirt freshman, has come to life as a sophomore in Upstate's lineup. The 6-2 Bloomington, Illinois, native led Upstate in just about every offensive category before missing two weeks due to a hand injury. He came back to the lineup by going 2-for-4 with two RBI against the College of Charleston on April 13 and then added two runs against UNC Asheville. Cook is currently third on the team with 25 runs scored and he has also posted five doubles and a triple. Cook, who didn't even drive in a run as a freshman, has driven in multiple runners in a team-high seven games and he also is third on the team with 12 multiple-hit games.

The redshirt sophomore connected on his first homer against Georgia State on Feb. 23, helping him start a torrid hot stretch in which he hit .481 with 13 hits, seven runs and 11 RBI, driving in at least one run in the next six games. Cook posted two hits, two runs and three RBI on Feb. 23 against Georgia State before adding four hits and two RBI against Dayton on Feb. 27. Three more hits against Butler on Feb. 28 helped ensure him the Courtyard By Marriott Classic MVP honors and he followed that with three hits and two RBI against Gardner-Webb on March 3.

Upstate (14-32 overall) gets back in action after a 13-day break for final exams when it travels to Stetson for a three-game A-Sun series, starting on Friday at 6 p.m.


ESPN The Magazine
District 3 Winners
 University Division
 FIRST TEAM
P       Austin Fleet, Coastal Carolina, Sr., Edmond, Okla., 3.78, Business
Management
P       Danny Hultzen, Virginia, So., Bethesda, Md., 3.37, Undeclared
P       John Atteo, North Florida, Sr., Lake Worth, Fla., 3.81, Criminal Justice
C       Jared Avchen, East Carolina, Sr., Palm Bay, Fla., 4.00, Business
IF      David Towarnicky, Appalachian State, Sr., New Bern, N.C., 4.0, Banking and
Finance, Risk Insurance
IF      Derek Dietrich, Georgia Tech Jr., Parma, Ohio, 3.40, Management
IF      Tony Plagman, Georgia Tech, Sr., Alpharetta, Ga., 3.36, Management
IF      Matt Leeds, College of Charleston, So., Boca Raton, Fla., 3.89, Economics
OF       Preston Hale, North Florida, Sr., Lakeland, Fla., 3.71, Criminal Justice
OF      James Ramsey, Florida State, So., Alpharetta, Ga., 3.83, Finance

OF      Tyler Cook, USC Upstate, Jr., Bloomington, Ill., 3.82, Business Management
DH      Josh Holskey, Campbell, So., Roanoke, Va., 3.9, Undecided





SECOND TEAM
 P      Ben Rowen, Virginia Tech,  Sr., Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif., 3.40,
Management
C       Mike Melillo, Elon,  Sr., Annandale, N.J., 3.35, Business Administration
(Finance)
IF      Tyler Kirkpatrick, Western Carolina,  Sr., Charlotte, N.C., 3.70, Finance
IF      Dan Palumbo, George Mason,  Jr., Bowie, Md., 3.84, Finance
IF      Daniel Blaustein, Georgia State,  So., Atlanta, Ga., 3.94, Finance
IF      Jake Lemmerman, Duke,  Jr., Newport Beach, Calif., 3.35, History
IF      Mike Fabiaschi, James Madison,  Sr., Torrington, Conn., 3.51, Finance
OF      Billy Burns, Mercer,  So. Marietta, Ga., 3.83, Business
OF      Chance Gilmore, Coastal Carolina,  Sr., Surfside Beach, S.C., 3.48,
Philosophy
OF      Will Piwnica-Worms, Duke,  So., St. Louis, Mo., 3.57, Undeclared

Players Mentioned

Justin Crawford

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