Workman Voted Capital One Academic All-America First Team Member
5/31/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Capitol One Academic All-America Teams
MACON, Ga. – Junior outfielder Derrick Workman was one of just 11 players in the country to garner the highest academic honor in all of collegiate athletics on Friday afternoon, when he was named a 2013 Capital One Academic All-America first team member as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Workman is the fifth Mercer student-athlete to receive Academic All-American honors in school history and just the third to be voted a first team All-American. Former Bears' baseball players Mike Armstrong and Billy Burns were third team selections in 2006 and 2011, respectively, while former men's basketball player Will Emerson was a two-time first team All-American in 2005 and 2006 and former men's soccer standout Will Betts received first team honors in 2012.
Workman is the only Atlantic Sun Conference student-athlete named to any of the prestigious academic teams announced on Friday. He is joined by Georgia State catcher Scott Sarratt (second team) and Georgia Tech outfielder Brandon Thomas (third team) as the only players in the state of Georgia named to the teams.
"Derrick is a great student-athlete and is the type of player we want here at Mercer due to his success both on the field and in the classroom," head coach Craig Gibson said. "To be the only player in the A-Sun Conference recognized and the only player in the state of Georgia voted onto the first team is a true testament to the work Derrick puts in day in and day out and I'm thrilled he received this great honor."
This isn't the first academic honor for Workman, who has a perfect 4.00 cumulative GPA as a communications major. The Acworth, Ga native was named to the A-Sun Conference All-Academic team in both 2012 and 2013.
Considering the CoSIDA Academic All-American awards are based on a combination of academic achievement and athletic excellence, Workman certainly has the balance needed to garner such a noteworthy honor.
Workman ranks in the top-six in the A-Sun Conference in almost every statistical category this season including slugging percentage (T-1st - .578), on-base percentage (3rd - .450), walks (4th - 35), home runs (T-4th - 9), total bases (5th - 119), batting average (5th - .345), doubles (T-5th - 17) and RBI (6th - 48). Workman was also recognized as one of just 60 players across the country named to the Midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List on May 2 and was voted an A-Sun All-Conference first team performer for the second-straight season on May 21.
