Sibley Named Southland Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year

6/20/2011 6:47:00 PM

FRISCO, Texas - Texas State junior Tyler Sibley has been named the Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Monday in conjunction with the release of the All-Academic Baseball Teams.

Sibley, an accounting major with a 3.89 GPA, was a CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-American this season after also being named the 2011 Texas State Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. The second baseman from Frisco, Texas (Frisco), also earned first-team all-academic honors last season. He has received the school's Oak Farms Dairy Academic Award each year from 2009 through 2011, was the Cream of the Crop Award winner for a 4.0 GPA in three semesters and has been named to the school's dean's list each semester since his freshman year.

On the field, Sibley posted a Texas State record 30-game hitting streak earlier this year, which was the third longest in the nation this season. In his junior campaign, he became the school leader in career runs scored (183) while ranking third in doubles (39), fourth in hits (222), fourth in stolen bases (41) and eighth in batting average (.343). This season, he had a .340 batting average, six home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 62 runs scored, 37 RBI and 20 stolen bases from his second base position. His 62 runs scored were the fourth most in a single season in Bobcat history, and 20 stolen bases tied for fourth most all-time. Sibley was drafted in the 50th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sibley is the first baseball student-athlete of the year from Texas State since Paul Goldschmidt earned the honor following the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Nine Southland student-athletes make a return appearance to the all-academic teams, including Southeastern Louisiana senior Josh Cryer and Texas State junior Jeff McVaney, who were both three-time selections. Two-time members of the all-academic teams include Sibley, Central Arkansas senior Zack Dickson, Sam Houston State senior Ryan Mooney, Stephen F. Austin junior Jarid Scarafiotti, Southeastern Louisiana senior Tyler Watkins and junior Cody Gougler, and UTSA senior Kevin Clarke.

A total of 10 student-athletes were automatically named to the conference all-academic teams by virtue of being either a first-team all-conference selection or voted to the CoSIDA academic all-district team.

The league placed seven student-athletes on the CoSIDA Academic All-District VI Team, including Cryer, Dickson, Sibley, Mooney, McVaney as well Central Arkansas senior Greg Noble and Sam Houston State senior Brandon Kimbrel. Cryer and Sibley went on to be named second-team Academic All-Americans. Three others - McNeese State junior Jace Peterson, Sam Houston State senior Chris Andreas and Stephen F. Austin junior Jarid Scarafiotti - earned a spot on the team after picking up first-team all-conference honors.

Central Arkansas led all teams with four selections, including two on the first team. Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin each had three, while McNeese State, Northwestern State, UTSA and Texas State each had two. Lamar, UT Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had one selection each.

Established in the 2002-03 academic year, the conference honors one student-athlete from each of the 17 championship sports who achieves excellence in academics, athletics and community/campus service.

The student-athlete of the year, selected by the league's awards committee, must have attained athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution, possess at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and demonstrate extracurricular service at his campus and or community.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

2011 Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic Teams

First Team
Name	University	Class	Hometown	GPA	Major/Minor
Josh Cryer^{1, 3}	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Leesville, La.	4.00	Accounting
Tyler Sibley^^{, 1, 2}	Texas State	Jr.	Frisco, Texas	3.89	Accounting
Zack Dickson^{1, 2}	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Oakville, Ontario	3.69	Broadcast Journalism
Greg Noble¹	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Benton, Ark.	4.00	Finance
Brandon Kimbrel¹	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Cameron, Texas	3.89	Biology
Ryan Mooney^{1, 2}	Sam Houston State	Sr.	The Woodlands, Texas	3.30	General Business
Jeff McVaney^{1, 3}	Texas State	Jr.	Houston, Texas	3.60	Management
Jace Peterson¹	McNeese State	Jr.	Moss Bluff, La.	3.22	General Studies
Jarid Scarafiotti^{1, 2}	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Shreveport, La.	3.59	Mathematics
Chris Andreas¹	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Brenham, Texas	3.42	Kinesiology
Luke Irvine	Northwestern State	Sr.	Liberty, Mo.	3.48	Fine and Graphic Arts
Seth Granger	McNeese State	Jr.	Iowa, La.	3.06	General Studies

Second Team
Name	University	Class	Hometown	GPA	Major/Minor
Jared West	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Conroe, Texas	3.50	Kinesiology/Health Science
Casey Selsor	UTSA	Jr.	San Antonio, Texas	3.33	Business
Tyler Watkins²	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Petal, Miss.	3.45	General Studies
Dustin Ward	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Little Rock, Ark.	3.80	Chemistry
Jason West	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Conroe, Texas	3.46	Kinesiology
Preston Beck	UT Arlington	So.	Dallas, Texas	3.03	Business
Jeramie Marek	A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Corpus Christi, Texas	3.06	Kinesiology
Kevin Clarke²	UTSA	Sr.	Huntsville, Texas	3.79	Management
Drew Helenihi	Northwestern State	Sr.	Livermore, Calif.	3.57	Biology
Cody Gougler²	Southeastern La.	Jr.	Huntsville, Texas	3.53	Sports Management
Aaron Buchanan	Lamar	Sr.	Houston, Texas	3.46	General Studies
Jonathan Houston	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Conway, Ark.	3.00	Finance

^{^}2011 Southland Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year
¹Automatic Selection
²Two-time all-academic selection
³Three-time all-academic selection