CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The America East office announced the twelve-member 2012 All-Academic Team on Thursday afternoon to recognize the student-athletes who excel both academically as well as athletically and represent the best of the America East Conference.
Headlining the team is 2012 America East Pitcher of the Year and CoSIDA Academic All-American Tyler Johnson from Stony Brook University. Fellow Seawolf Brandon McNitt and University of Hartford senior Simon Kudernatsch also added America East All-Academic honors to their resumes after earning CoSIDA Academic All-District earlier this spring.
Four All-Conference honorees made the All-Academic Team. Johnson and McNitt were both first-team selections, while Kudernatsch and University at Albany’s Josh Nethaway were second-team choices.
Repeat selections include Johnson, Kudernatsch, University of Maine’s Jonathan Balentina, Albany’s Greg Lutton, UMBC’s Curtis Schickner and Binghamton University’s Jordon Smucker. Hartford’s James Alfonso and Brian Hunter, and Binghamton’s Bill Bereszniewicz and Mike Danaher round out the team. Each of the six America East baseball member institutions are represented on the team.
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the fourth straight year, America East has chosen the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisers and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.
2012 America East Baseball All-Academic Team
Name Cl. School Hometown GPA Major
James Alfonso So. Hartford Raynham, Mass. 3.39 Management
Jonathan Balentina Gr. Maine Willemstad, Curacao 3.61 UG / 3.38 G Civil engineering
Bill Bereszniewicz So. Binghamton Sudbury, Mass. 3.30 Management, Finance
Mike Danaher Jr. Binghamton Apalachin, N.Y. 3.36 Biology
Brian Hunter So. Hartford Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. 3.43 Health sciences
Tyler Johnson Sr. Stony Brook Chatsworth, Calif. 3.71 History
Simon Kudernatsch Sr. Hartford Prague, Czech Republic 3.72 Biomedical engineering
Greg Lutton Sr. Albany New Haven, Vt. 3.39 Business administration
Brandon McNitt So. Stony Brook Chino Hills, Calif. 3.47 Biochemistry
Josh Nethaway Jr. Albany Fonda, N.Y. 3.31 History
Curtis Schickner Sr. UMBC East Windsor, N.J. 3.56 Economics
Jordon Smucker Jr. Binghamton Bird-In-Hand, Pa. 3.39 Management, leadership and consulting; Management information systems