Baseball Release (2006) - Guilford Baseball Students Win Academic Honors - Guilford College

• GUILFORD BASEBALL STUDENTS EARN ACADEMIC HONORS

      Greensboro, NC (5/24/06) -- Guilford College's Jeff Arzonico and Andrew Lerner earned spots on the First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III Baseball squad Wednesday. Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) selected the academic all-district teams. First-team honorees advance to the national Academic All-America® ballot. The Academic All-America® teams will be announced May 30.

      The all-district squads are comprised of baseball student-athletes from Division II and III institutions in the five-state area from Virginia to Florida. Nominees were starters or important reserves of sophomore academic standing or above who maintained at least a 3.2 grade point average.

Arzonico earned Second Team Academic All-District III recognition in 2005 and graduated with honors from Guilford earlier this month. The dean's list sport management major earned Academic All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) laurels for the third straight year and was an eight-time member of Guilford's Student-Athlete Honor Roll. He was named Guilford's Outstanding Sport Management Major by the school's sport studies department.

The Quakers' designated hitter, Arzonico hit .324 in 40 starts with a homer and 23 RBIs to earn honorable mention All-ODAC laurels this spring. The three-year starter set the school record with a league-leading 16 sacrifice hits, two shy of the NCAA Division III mark for bunts in a season. His 14 doubles rank sixth among ODAC leaders and fifth on the Quakers' single-season list. Arzonico hit .316 with seven doubles and 13 RBIs against league foes and had 15 multiple-hit games, including a 4-for-5 showing in Guilford's April 11 ODAC win over Roanoke. He leaves ranked among the school's all-time best in batting average (.341, 14th), RBIs (87, 17th), hits (147, 13th) and doubles (27, 13th).

      Lerner graduated with high honors earlier this month and was named one of Guilford's two outstanding senior computer information systems majors. A four-time member of Guilford's Student-Athlete Honor Roll, the dean's list student twice received Academic All-ODAC honors.

      Lerner started 25 games behind the plate as the Quakers' catcher. He hit .279 with a homer and nine runs batted in. His .995 fielding percentage led the team and ranks sixth in school history. Lerner threw out seven of 25 (28%) would-be basestealers and committed only one error in 187 total chances. He had five multi-hit games, including a season-best three-hit showing in Guilford' 13-4 win over Emory & Henry March 24 in which he added a double and two RBIs. He homered in the Quakers' 11-3 triumph over Montreat Feb. 16. Lerner concludes his two-season Guilford career with a .318 batting average. He had four homers, 11 doubles and 34 RBIs in 61 games and earned second-team all-region and honorable mention All-ODAC recognition as a junior.

      The pair helped rookie head coach Nick Black's '02 Quakers to a 24-18 overall record, 10-8 in the ODAC. Guilford won over 20 games for the sixth straight season and set the school standard with a .337 team batting average. The Quakers' campaign ended in the six-team ODAC Baseball Tournament for the fourth time in five years with a fourth-place showing.