2015-16 PBC Yearbook | Page 86

PBC YEARBOOK writing contests. 2 5 GC’s Dylan Cook Named NCBWA National Player of the Week DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Y E A R S released its weekly honors Thursday, with Georgia College senior Dylan Cook (Portola Valley, California) being named the National Player of the Week for the week ending March 20. Cook is the first National Player of the Week from the Southeast Region this season. The senior second baseman had a monster week, hitting .579 with four home runs and a 1.316 slugging percentage in four games for the Bobcats. In a three-game series at the University of Montevallo, the senior hit .538 with a 1.308 slugging percentage. He cranked four home runs in his four games, three of those against Montevallo with 10 total RBIs. He opened up with a 4-for-6 effort against Clark Atlanta University, then collected hits in all three games against the Falcons. In the series finale, he went 4-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs, he also had two RBIs in the first game of the series. Additionally, Cook excelled in the field with no errors in 19 chances at second base and one double play turned. Three PBC Baseball Players Named Academic All-Americans AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Three Peach Belt Conference baseball players have been named to the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II 84 Baseball team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It is the fifth straight year the PBC has had at least three Academic All-Americans. Columbus State’s Blake Edwards was named a first-team Academic All-American while teammate Ryan Ihle was named third-team. Flagler’s Michael Maiocco was also named third team. For Edwards, the Academic All-America honor is the second of his career, making him only the third PBC baseball player to ever be placed on the team twice. The honor is widely considered the highest honor a student-athlete can receive. A native of Zebulon, Ga., Edwards graduated from CSU this spring with a bachelor’s degree in business, sporting a 3.88 GPA. The senior was a driving force in Columbus State’s run to a Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament tile as Edwards hit .387 with 21 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBIs. He finished the year ranked sixth in the nation with 93 hits and ranks among the national leaders in doubles per game and runs scored. In the field, Edwards was just as good. The third baseman made just five errors in 193 chances. He was named to the ABCA/Rawlings National Gold Glove Team in 2014. Edwards is fourth all-time in CSU history in doubles (52), fifth in runs (187) and seventh in hits (272). Earlier in the week, Edwards was named the PBC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, which is the highest individual honor given by the conference to a student-athlete during the year. He was CSU’s first male student-athlete to win the award since 2001. Ihle had a fantastic year at the plate for the Cougars becoming one of the finest hitters in the Southeast Region. The senior posted a .404 average in 2016 with 19 doubles, five homers and 49 runs driven in. Ihle scored 68 runs this year, the third-most in the PBC and 15th in the country, while collecting 95 hits, the sixth-most in the nation. The Ferny Grove, Australia native strung together CSU’s longest hitting streak of the year at 23 games and also finished the year fourth on the Cougar single-season hit list. Ihle has a 3.49 GPA and is studying management. Maiocco is the third Flagler student-athlete to receive CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors joining men’s soccer player Johan Bergfeld (2011, second-team) and cross country’s Alex Bonus (2012, second-team). Maiocco holds a 4.00 cumulative grade point average and is a graphic design major at Flagler. He transferred to Flagler at the beginning of the fall semester in 2014 from Southern Polytechnic State University. He made 16 appearances for the Saints with 12 starts. Maiocco led the staff lead with seven wins (7-1) and finished third on the staff in earned run average with a 4.13 mark. In 69.2 innings pitched, Maiocco struck out 90 batters. He came within one strike out of tying the school record when he fanned 15 batters in a game at Albany State University. Maiocco is 25th in NCAA Division II in strikeouts per nine innings averaging 11.05. 2015-16