May 10, 2007
WACO, Texas -- Three Baylor baseball student-athletes earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI honors, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Thursday. Seniors Matt Czimskey, Tim Jackson and Jeff Mandel were all selected to the second team. This marks the second consecutive season in which Mandel has earned second-team honors; Czimskey and Jackson were first-time honorees.
At least one Baylor baseball student-athlete has earned academic all-district honors every year since 1998. In that time, 15 Bears have been so honored 22 times. Mandel joins Jason Jennings (1998, 1999), Jon Topolski (1998, 1999), Ross Bennett (2002, 2003), Michael Griffin (2004, 2005, 2006) and Zach Dillon (2005, 2006) as the only Baylor baseball student-athletes to earn academic all-district honors multiple times.
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.
Czimskey, who prepped at Midway High School in Waco and spent two seasons at San Jacinto Junior College in Houston, is hitting .333 this season with four home runs and 19 RBI. He was named second team at designated hitter. Czimskey, a general studies major at Baylor, has been strongest in Big 12 play; he is hitting .378 with all four home runs and 13 RBI in league action.
Jackson prepped at Cedar Hill High School in Dallas and spent two season's at McLennan Community College in Waco. He is hitting .250 with five home runs and 26 RBI this season. A communications major, Jackson was a second-team selection at first base.
One of only three seniors on Baylor's 2007 squad who have spent their entire collegiate careers as Bears, Mandel was a second-team selection as a starting pitcher. An economics major, Mandel is a product of Jersey Village High School in Houston. He is 5-7 this season with a 4.66 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 75.1 innings.
Baylor returns to Big 12 action this weekend, traveling to Lincoln, Neb., for a three-game series at Nebraska. The Bears and the Huskers meet Friday at 6:35 p.m., Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m. All three games will be played at Haymarket Park. Saturday's game will be televised live on Nebraska Educational Television and rebroadcast May 14 at 5 p.m. on CSTV.
