INDIANAPOLIS – Starting pitcher Dillon Cate was named to the Google Cloud College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Baseball Academic All-District 3 team announced by the organization on Thursday afternoon.
It is the third straight season that Carson-Newman has placed a player on the roster as Brandon Roberts was lauded in 2016 and Paul Kirby earned a spot in 2017. Brandon Burchfield picked up the honor in 2006 and 2007 earning All-American honor each season as did Kirby last year.
The right-hander is sporting a flawless 4.00 GPA pursuing his Master's degree in Business. Of the 88 players honored at the Division II level, he is one of seven student-athletes with a perfect GPA. There were 17 players at the Division I level that produced a GPA of 4.00 or better.
Cate joined a lineage of Eagle pitchers to take a spot on the first-team All-South Atlantic Conference team as he became the ninth and first since Vince Apicella in 2016. The redshirt-senior is 27th in the country for strikeouts and ranks second in the league with 97 on the season in 80 1/3 innings pitched. His six wins are tied for fifth while his 4.30 ERA is 11th.
In the C-N record books, the righty is tied for fifth for strikeouts in a single season. He worked at least six innings in nine of his 13 starts as the Eagles are 8-5 when he took the ball.
On Feb. 18, 2018 against 14th-ranked Northwood, Cate produced one of the best pitching performances in the history of the school. He set a Division II record for the school with 15 strikeouts, a mark that is the fourth-highest in Division II this season. He did not allow a hit in 7 1/3 frames of work walking six to earn the victory. The Sevierville, Tenn. native was awarded the SAC Pitcher of the Week as well as the NCBWA Region and National Pitcher of the Week honor.
The teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. The Academic All-District teams are broken up into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada separating Division I, Division II and Division III schools.
District 3 is comprised of teams from Conference Carolinas, the Peach Belt Conference and SAC with 11 individuals honored. Seven of those individuals came from the SAC with the Peach Belt having three and one from Conference Carolinas.
Carson-Newman has had 24 Academic All-Americans dating back to 1992 with Cate being eligible to become the third baseball player for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees to be selected later this month.
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