Related
•
2019-20 Academic All-America® Teams and Honorees
• Download new Academic All-America program logos
Troy Puga of Friends Headlines CoSIDA Academic All-America® NAIA Baseball Team
NAIA M/W Baseball Release: PDF |
doc
Troy Puga
AUSTIN, Texas – Troy Puga of Friends University headlined the 2020 Academic All-America® NAIA Baseball Team as awarded by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Puga was named the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for NAIA Baseball. Puga, a senior infielder from Pueblo, Colorado, entered exclusive company as a three-time Academic All-America® selection, taking second-team acclaim last year and a first-team nod as a sophomore.
The NAIA Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NAIA national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2019-20 NAIA Academic All-America® teams.
Despite the cancellation of spring competition during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America® awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics.
Puga boasts of a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average studying health sciences/biochemistry. He was recognized for his academic achievement with a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete honor, Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete award and three CoSIDA Academic All-District® accolades.
In his Falcons career, he is a .362 hitter with 32 doubles, 12 home runs and 82 runs batted in. This season, Puga produced a robust .349 average along with a .495 on-base percentage and a .547 slugging percentage. A unanimous first-team All-KCAC performer in 2019,
Puga was fourth in the conference in hitting (.385) with a league-high .444 average in conference games while clouting seven homers and driving in 33 runs overall. He is a two-time conference player of the week.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America® NAIA Baseball Team included three repeat recipients – Puga,
Jacob Bulthuis from Olivet Nazarene University and Arizona Christian University’s
Brent Smith. Bulthuis and Smith became two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America® selections. Smith was a repeat first-team honoree, while Bulthuis was selected to the second team a year ago.
Puga was the only member of the squad to have an undergraduate GPA of 4.00, while two had 4.00 GPAs in graduate work. The average GPA for the 12-man first team came out to 3.80, while the average GPA for the entire team was 3.78.
2019-20 Academic All-America® Baseball Teams – NAIA
| FIRST TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pos. |
Name |
School |
GPA |
Yr. |
Major |
| P |
Nick Little |
Concordia University (Neb.) |
3.97 |
Jr. |
Business Administration |
| P |
Dan Vos |
Trinity Christian College |
3.91 |
Jr. |
Accounting |
| C |
Kenneth Piper |
Columbia College (Mo.) |
3.76 |
Sr. |
Psychology |
| INF |
Anders Green |
William Jessup University |
3.64 |
Sr. |
Kinesiology |
| INF |
Andrew Kennedy |
Taylor University |
3.93 |
Sr. |
Exercise Science |
| INF |
Troy Puga (2,@) |
Friends University |
4 |
Sr. |
Health Sciences / Biochemistry |
| INF |
Thomas Sautel |
Concordia University (Neb.) |
3.98/4.00 |
Gr. |
Business Administration |
| OF |
Jacob Bulthuis (2) |
Olivet Nazarene University |
3.75 |
Jr. |
Actuarial Science |
| OF |
Bryan Leef |
University of the Cumberlands |
3.58 |
Sr. |
Business Administration |
| OF |
Brent Smith (1) |
Arizona Christian University |
3.94 |
Sr. |
Business Administration |
| OF |
Tyler Williams |
Oklahoma City University |
3.63 |
Sr. |
Strategic Communications |
| DH |
Nicholas Izquierdo |
St. Thomas University (Fla.) |
3.57/3.70 |
Gr. |
Sports Administration |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| SECOND TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pos. |
Name |
School |
GPA |
Yr. |
Major |
| P |
Landon Bloir |
Indiana Institute of Technology |
3.93 |
Sr. |
Accounting |
| P |
Hunter Dollander |
Georgia Gwinnett College |
3.51 |
Sr. |
Exercise Science |
| C |
Luis Mujica |
Point Park University |
3.71 |
Jr. |
Civil Engineering |
| IF |
Reed Harter |
Dakota Wesleyan University |
3.95 |
Sr. |
History Education |
| IF |
Yanni Patten |
Mount Vernon Nazarene University |
3.50 |
Sr. |
Mathematics |
| IF |
Martin Radosevic |
Baker University |
3.98 |
Sr. |
Sports Administration |
| IF |
Aaron Saal |
Mount Vernon Nazarene University |
3.69/4.00 |
Gr. |
Business Administration |
| IF |
Ben Zordani |
Saint Xavier University |
3.8 |
Sr. |
Criminal Justice |
| OF |
David Anderson |
Grace College |
3.81 |
Sr. |
Accounting |
| OF |
Peyton Crispin |
Oklahoma City University |
3.6 |
Jr. |
Human Performance |
| OF |
Jay Denman |
Lourdes University |
3.6 |
Sr. |
Marketing |
| DH |
Tanner Killian |
Indiana Wesleyan University |
3.85 |
Sr. |
Business |
Academic All-America® of the Year: Troy Puga, Friends University
(1) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® NAIA first-team selection in 2019
(2) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® NAIA second-team selection in 2019
(@) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division first-team selection in 2018
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michael MacEachern, Young Harris College | Academic All-America® Co-Chair for Publicity/Communications
mfmaceachern@yhc.edu | (706) 379-5106
Rich Tortorelli, Oklahoma City University | Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
rtortorelli@okcu.edu | (405) 208-5304