Pair of Golden Eagles Earn CoSIDA Academic All-America Honors
Spalding University baseball players Jimi Keating and Kyle Olliges have been named to the prestigious CoSIDA Academic All-America Baseball Team. Keating and Olliges become only the second and third Golden Eagles to receive the award and baseball becomes the first team in school history to have multiple players make the team in the same season. Spalding was one of five schools in NCAA Division III with multiple athletes on the All-American team.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America Team is the premier academic award in collegiate athletics. To be nominated for the CoSIDA Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.30 or higher cumulative grade point average and be a starter or significant reserve.
Keating, a Bardstown, Ky. native, is a Natural Science major and holds a 3.84 grade-point average. On the field, Keating is one of the top pitchers in NCAA Division III earning All-American and All-Region honors from the ABCA and D3baseball.com, as well as SLIAC First Team All-Conference. The junior right-handed pitcher leads the nation in strikeouts and wins. On the season, Keating has racked up 124 strikeouts, while hurling his way to an 11-2 record, with a 1.62 earn runs average. He averaged 11.16 strikeouts per game and walked just 10 batters this spring ranking third in the nation in strikeout- to-walk ratio and WHIP at (0.77).
Olliges, a senior from Louisville, Ky., is a Health Science major, with a focus in Occupational Therapy and holds a 3.86 grade-point average. On the mound, Olliges teamed with Keating to give the Golden Eagles one of the top pitching duos in the nation earning ABCA and D3baseball.com All-Region honors, and SLIAC First Team All-Conference. Olliges' nine wins on the season ranked 13th in NCAA Division III, while his 109 strikeouts ranked fourth in the nation.'
STORY COURTESY OF SPALDING UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION