AUSTIN, Texas – Illinois State senior catcher Collin Braithwaite has been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Second Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Braithwaite had a .286 batting average on the season, and was one of two players on the team – and one of 14 in the MVC – to have 40+ runs and 40+ RBI's during the season. He scored 42 runs on the year, and finished second on the team with 16 doubles, seven home runs, 42 RBI's, and five stolen bases. He led the team with 29 walks drawn, and committed just four errors in 233 chances in the field (a .983 fielding percentage).
During the year, the Queen Creek, Arizona, native had 17 multi-hit games, including a stretch of seven consecutive such games in the early portion of the schedule. He also homered in three consecutive games over the final two games of the Evansville series and the opening game of the MVC Tournament against Bradley.
Braithwaite is the fourth baseball player, and the award is the fifth in program history to earn Academic All-America honors, and is joined by Jim Pacanowski (second team in 1983, third team in 1984), Paul DeJong (first team in 2015), and Jacob Hendren (first team in 2015). He is also the 57th Redbird student-athlete to earn this honor, and second this season, along with Jaelyn Keene of the volleyball program.
The Redbirds ended the 2018 season with a 22-30 record, and faced five teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament (going 7-10 in those games), and two teams that have advanced to the Super Regional (going 4-3 against those teams).
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
