LAKE CHARLES – McNeese junior second baseman
Joe Provenzano has been named a CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning third team honors, the College Sports Information Directors Association announced on Friday.
A two-time first-team All-Southland Conference selection, including this season, and a former Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, the Downers Grove, Illinois native is the fourth McNeese baseball player in school history to receive Academic All-America honors and first since Ryan Brauninger in 2009.
Provenzano compiled a 3.79 grade point average in finance this year while helping lead the Cowboys to their first Southland Conference championship since 2006.
He ranked second on the team in hitting in 2017 with a .336 batting average while also hitting six home runs and knocking in 54, tied for second on the team. All three stat categories are career highs.
Starting in 56 games on the year, he hit safely in 46 of those 56 contests and had multiple hits in 20 games. He ended the year hitting safely in 14 of the final 15 games.
A finance major, Provenzano was recently inducted into the McNeese chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma Scholastic Business Honor Society which is the highest national academic recognition that an undergraduate or graduate business student can receive. Only the top 10 percent of undergraduates and the top 20 percent of graduate students are invited to join.
Provenzano garnered Southland Conference All-Academic honors in 2016 and is a candidate for as the SLC Baseball Student Athlete of the Year for this season.
He qualified as an Academic All-American by being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 first team, an honor he received last month and he's the only player from the Southland Conference to be listed on either of the three Academic All-America teams.
Other McNeese baseball players to receive the award include: Ben Broussard (1999), Ran Prince (2002), and Ryan Brauninger (2009).
2017 Academic All-America Division I Baseball Teams
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major
P Cole Lipscomb % Auburn Sr. Prattville, Ala. 4.00 Information systems
P Jake Thompson Oregon State Jr. Florence, Ore. 3.60 Economics
C Travis Watkins East Carolina Gr. Concord, N.C. 4.00,4.00 (G) MBA
IF Ben Fisher Eastern Kentucky Sr. Richmond, Ky. 3.97 Biology
IF David MacKinnon (1) Hartford Sr. Easton, Mass. 3.87 Accounting
IF Caleb Stayton (1) Ball State Sr. Goshen, Ind. 3.92 Telecommunications
IF Hunter Williams Tulane Sr. West Monroe, La. 4.00 Neuroscience
OF Theodore Hoffman Texas State Jr. Brenham, Texas 4.00 Management
OF Andrew Moritz UNCG So. Charlotte, N.C. 3.99 Accounting
OF Russell Williams (3) U.S. Air Force Academy Sr. McKinney, Texas 3.80 Economics
DH Nicholas Egli Belmont Sr. Brentwood, Tenn. 3.91 Engineering physics / math.
SECOND TEAM
Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major
P Kirk McCarty Southern Miss Jr. Hattiesburg, Miss. 4.00 Accounting
P Dylan Moore (1) Louisiana Jr. Hughes Springs, Texas 4.00 Political science / pre-law
C Charlie Madden Mercer Sr. Dunwoody, Ga. 3.83 Accounting
IF Hunter Bening Mercer Sr. Fayetteville, Ga. 3.91 Finance
IF Jesse Berardi St. John's (N.Y.) Jr. Commack, N.Y. 3.85 Finance
IF Justin Jones (3) Georgia State Jr. Warner Robins, Ga. 4.08 Health & physical education
IF Trevor Putzig Tennessee Tech Jr. Louisville, Ky. 3.75 Business management
OF Brian Beard Norfolk State Sr. Chesapeake, Va. 3.80 Business management
OF Sam Grigo Brown Jr. Westbrook, Conn. 4.00 Economics
OF Daniel Jipping Central Michigan Jr. Canton, Mich. 3.94 Finance
OF Jared Mang New Mexico So. Los Alamos, N.M. 3.91 Pre exercise science
DH Aaron Barnett Pepperdine Sr. Mission Viejo, Calif. 3.83 Economics
DH Jake Kuzbel Georgetown Sr. Ashburn, Va. 3.50 Biochemistry
THIRD TEAM
Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major
P Nick Sandlin Southern Miss So. Evans, Ga. 4.00 Construction engineering tech.
P Tyler Zombro George Mason Sr. Staunton, Va. 3.98 Integrative studies
C Will Olson Texas Arlington So. Sherman, Texas 3.92 Economics & finance
IF
Joe Provenzano McNeese State Jr. Downers Grove, Ill. 3.79 Finance
IF Carl Stajduhar New Mexico Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 3.69 Liberal arts
IF Matt Winaker Stanford Jr. Alamo, Calif. 3.65 Science, technology & society
IF Charles Yorgen East Carolina Sr. Richmond, Va. 3.72 Business management
OF Stephen Born (3) U.S. Naval Academy Jr. Strafford, Pa. 3.77 Operations research
OF Kaleb Duckworth (3) WKU Jr. Henderson, Ky. 3.96 Accounting
CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year: Ben Fisher, Eastern Kentucky
1 = 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team
2 = 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® second team
3 = 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® third team
% = 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-America® second team
