GARCIA SELECTED TO SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball player Omar Garcia has been named to the Southland Conference All-Academic second team by a vote of the league's coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors.

Garcia, who earlier this spring was named the Islanders' Male Scholar Athlete of the Year as he possesses the highest grade point average of any male athlete in the department who has been in the department for two seasons. A kinesiology major, the native of El Paso boasts a 3.67 GPA.

"Ever since he has been with the program Omar has been a great ambassador on and off the field," said Islander head coach Scott Malone. "We have had the opportunity to see him grow and mature as a player and person. On the field, he has grown from a redshirt to the starting catcher this season.

"His development as a player speaks of one of his greatest attributes - his work ethic. It is obvious he carries that attribute over to the classroom and puts the same amount of time and effort into both."

Senior Eric DeBlanc of Northwestern State was named the Student-Athlete of the Year. He boasts a 3.79 GPA in biology. Catcher Josh Cryer of Southeastern Louisiana holds the top GPA on the team with 4.0 in accounting.

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.

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.

2010 Southland Baseball All-Academic Teams

*Student-Athlete of the Year

²Two-time academic selection

³CoSIDA All-Academic District VI

⁴First-team all-conference