May 7, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State third baseman Ryan Court was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District V First Team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday. Court was one of three Missouri Valley Conference players on the District V team.
Court, a redshirt sophomore, leads the baseball team with a 3.82 GPA in business teacher education and leads the Redbird offense with 31 RBI. He has started all 38 games this season - 37 at third base - and is batting .317 heading into this weekend's final MVC series at Bradley (May 8-10). Court has 10 extra-base hits, including three home runs.
The Sleepy Hollow, Ill. native was named MVC Player of the Week (April 20) after batting .421 (8-for-19) with eight RBI during the previous week. Court's home run in the second game of a doubleheader at Northern Iowa (April 18) was the deciding factor and capped a seven RBI day.
Court has been one of Illinois State's most productive offensive players after playing in just eight games in 2008. He has posted a 3.5 GPA or higher and landed on the AFNI Honor Roll in all five of his semesters at Illinois State, and has twice posted a perfect 4.0 GPA in a semester. Court is eligible for Academic All-America consideration when the next round of voting begins.
Indiana State's Brady Shoemaker and Bradley's Grant Escue were also named to the First Team. Illinois State (19-19, 9-10 MVC) begins a pivotal three-game series with Escue and the Braves (15-27, 2-13 MVC) at O'Brien Field Friday at 7 p.m. Ryan Camp (4-3, 4.98 ERA) is slated to start for the Redbirds against Rob Scahill (3-2, 4.30 ERA). The Redbirds are in fifth place entering the series and are trying to qualify for their first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament since 2001 by finishing sixth or higher in the regular-season standings.
