May 11, 2006
WACO, Texas - Baylor baseball's Zach Dillon and Jeff Mandel were named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI teams, announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Dillon was named first team, while Mandel earned second-team honors.
At least one Baylor baseball student-athlete has earned academic all-district honors every year since 1998. In that time, 13 Bears have been so honored 19 times. This is Dillon's second consecutive season to earn all-district honors, while Mandel is honored for the first time.
A fifth-year senior catcher from Urbandale, Iowa, Dillon completed undergraduate studies at Baylor in December, 2005, and recently completed his first semester of graduate school in pursuit of Master of Science degree in sport management.
A Johnny Bench Award candidate as the nation's top collegiate catcher, Dillon is 10th in the Big 12 with a .371 batting average. He also leads the conference in walks (44), on base percentage (.512), free passes (50) and times reached base (109). Dillon ranks 14th nationally, averaging 0.90 walks per game and is on pace to break Baylor's singe-season records for walks and on base percentage.
Dillon joins former Bears Ross Bennett (2002, 2003), Michael Griffin (2003, 2004, 2005), Jason Jennings (1998, 1999) and Jon Topolski (1998, 1999) as the only Baylor baseball student-athletes to earn Academic All-District honors multiple times.
Mandel, a junior pitcher and first baseman from Houston, Texas, currently is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. He is 1-2 this season on the mound with a team-best seven saves, tied for the seventh-best single-season total in school history.
In order to be eligible for academic all-district honors, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4.00 scale and participate in at least 50 percent of his team's games. Freshmen and first-year transfers are not eligible. Those selected all-district are automatically nominated for Academic All-America honors.
Baylor returns to action this weekend, hosting No. 5 Nebraska for a three-game Big 12 Conference series at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears and the Huskers meet Friday at 7 p.m. CDT, Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
