LAKE CHARLES – McNeese junior second baseman Joe Provenzano has been named the 2017 Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced on Thursday as part of its release of the 2017 baseball all-academic team.
 
The Downers Grove, Ill. native becomes the first McNeese baseball player in school history to capture the prestigious award.
 
In addition, Provenzano was named first team SLC All-Academic for the second time in his career after compiling a 3.79 grade point average in finance. Earlier this month, he garnered CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. He's also a two-time postseason First Team All-SLC award winner.
 
Joining Provenzano on the 24-person all-academic team were Cowboy senior pitchers Collin Kober (first team) and Austin Sanders (second team).
 
Provenzano finished the season ranked second on the team with a .336 batting average in helping lead McNeese to the regular season conference championship, the team's first since 2006. He tied for second on the squad with 54 runs batted in and popped six home runs. He hit safely in 46 of the 56 games played on the year and had multiple hits in 20 contests.
 
Kober, who was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 27^th round of the 2017 MLB Draft on Wednesday, is now a three-time SLC all-academic recipient.
 
The Lake Charles native posted a 3.48 GPA in health and human performance this past year in the classroom while on the field, ended his career as McNeese's all-time saves leader with 27 after posting nine in 2017.
 
He ended the season with a 3.16 ERA and a 2-3 record and struck out 29 batters in 25 2/3 innings pitched. He did not allow a run to score in his last six games pitched.
 
Sanders was the Cowboys' Friday night pitcher the entire season and posted a 3.39 GPA in general studies.
 
The Olathe, Kansas native started in 15 games on the year and compiled a 7-2 record with a 3.26 ERA. He threw a team-high 85 2/3 innings on the season with a team-best 67 strike outs. In 10 conference starts, he put up a 6-1 record with a 2.69 ERA.
 
The All-Academic teams are voted on by head coaches, sports information directors and academic and compliance staff members from each Southland Conference institution. 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 All-Academic selection, excluding pitchers. Nominees who were also named to the All-Conference First Team or CoSIDA Academic All-District team are automatically named Southland All-Academic.
 
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, votes for the Student-Athlete of the Year. The Southland Student-Athlete of the Year award is presented to one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.