EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Five members of the University of Evansville baseball team were honored with Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team status on Tuesday, as the Purple Aces produced two first-team selections and three honorable mention members.
Graduate pitcher Jarrett Blunt (Ottumwa, Iowa/Omaha) and junior pitcher Donovan Schultz (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly) were voted to the MVC’s Scholar-Athlete First Team in a vote of the league’s Sports Information Directors. Senior pitcher Tyler Denu (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb), redshirt junior pitcher Nate Hardman (Normal, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) and sophomore catcher Evan Waggoner (Bedford, Ind./Bedford North Lawrence) all captured honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete Team status.
Blunt currently owns a 3.94 GPA while pursuing his Master’s of Science in Leadership at UE. He finished the year going 5-1 in 21 appearances and six starts for UE, while ranking sixth in the Valley with a 3.64 ERA. Blunt also ranked among the Valley’s best in innings pitched (64.1 IP), strikeouts (65) and batting average against (.260) in his lone season in a Purple Aces’ uniform.
Schultz was voted to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team by owning a 3.99 GPA in Sports Communication at UE. On the diamond, Schultz led Evansville and ranked fifth in the MVC with a team-best six victories on the year. He also ranked among the MVC’s leaders in ERA (4.31), innings pitched (77.1), strikeouts (63), and fewest hits allowed (62), while ranking second in the league in opposing batting average at .221. Schultz earned the league’s MVC Elite 17 Award for having the highest GPA in the MVC Tournament finals.
Denu earned honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete Team status after owning a 3.70 GPA in Accounting at UE. Denu started 12 games for Evansville this year, going 4-4 with a 4.42 ERA in 53.0 innings of work. He struck out 53 men against 26 walks, while holding teams to a .249 batting average against.
Hardman captured honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete Team status after posting a 3.61 GPA in Marketing in the classroom, and earning second-team all-MVC honors on the diamond as a relief pitcher. Hardman finished the regular-season ranked second in the MVC and in the top 20 in the country with 10 saves as UE’s closer. He tied for the league lead in appearances with 30, and went 1-0 with six saves and a 2.45 ERA in 13 MVC appearances.
Waggoner was the final member of the UE squad to earn honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete Team status after posting a 3.89 GPA in Actuarial Science in the classroom at UE. On the diamond, Waggoner was named to the MVC All-Tournament Team after hitting a pair of home runs in the conference tournament to help UE advance to the tournament final. On the year, he hit .271 with 10 doubles, four home runs and 25 RBI in 45 games played, including 38 starts.
The criteria for the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the College Sports Communicators (CSC) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore academic and athletic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.
