June 1, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State third baseman Ryan Court was one of 12 baseball players named to the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team, as voted on by the conference's baseball sports information directors and announced by the league office Monday.
Court, who was also named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine District V All-Academic First Team, finished the 2009 season with a .323 batting average and a team-best 41 RBI. The Sleepy Hollow, Ill., native was second on the team with 40 runs scored and tied for second with five home runs.
Court emerged as one of the Redbirds' top offensive contributors after playing in just eight games during the 2008 season. Court's three-run home run in the 11th inning at Bradley (May 8) helped Illinois State win the contest and clinch its first State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament berth since 2001. Court also hit a deciding home run in the second game of a doubleheader at Northern Iowa (April 18), part of a seven-RBI day, and earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honors for those efforts.
"Ryan has made great strides in the classroom and on the field," Illinois State head coach Mark Kingston said. "He's always been a tremendous student and his work ethic has served him very well in the classroom as evidenced by his high GPA. This year, that work ethic also served him well on the field, as he was one of our best players throughout the year. We're very proud of Ryan for his work ethic and we're very happy to see the results he's getting."
A business teacher education major, Court has posted a 3.5 GPA or higher and landed on the AFNI Honor Roll in all five of his semesters at Illinois State leading to a 3.82 cumulative GPA. He's twice posted a perfect 4.0 GPA in a semester.
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, with at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.
