Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MACON, Ga. - Three Atlantic Sun Conference baseball student-athletes earned Capital One Academic All-American honors including ETSU's Paul Hoilman, Mercer's Billy Burns and Jacksonville's Dan Gulbransen. Hoilman was named to the First Team for the second-straight season, while Burns and Gulbransen both earned third-team honors.

With the selection, Hoilman is the only repeat first team selection from 2010 and joins ten other DI players on the list. The senior first baseman and Mathematics major recently graduated from ETSU with a 3.95 GPA.

On the season, Hoilman currently has a .324 average with 22 doubles, 22 home runs and 50 RBI. The local product holds the Atlantic Sun career record for home runs (73), doubles (75) and total bases (615). He is also the school record holder in hits, doubles, home runs, runs, walks, RBI and extra-base hits.

Hoilman is the first player in the program’s history to reach the 300-hit plateau as he currently has 307 and is also the current active NCAA career leader in home runs, RBI (247) and total bases.

The 2010 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, Hoilman is also a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and is on the 2011 Golden Spikes Award watch list.

Gulbransen, who earned first team ESPN The Magazine Academic all-district accolades to be eligible for All-America honors, posted a 4.0 GPA as an exercise science major to earn the honor for the first time. He also garnered Atlantic Sun Conference all-academic honors and was named to the President’s List last season (4.0 GPA).

“Dan is the perfect example of a student-athlete and he is very deserving of this honor,” said JU head coach Terry Alexander. “I have never been around a young man who works harder to make himself a better baseball player, a better student and a better person. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach him and I look forward to having him back next year.”

Gulbransen currently ranks second on the squad with a .362 batting average, 61 runs, 76 hits, 17 doubles, two triples, 115 total bases, a .548 slugging percentage and a .471on-base percentage.

Burns is the first MU student-athlete to receive the award since 2006 and just the third person, overall, to be so honored from Mercer. Former Bears' baseball player Mike Armstrong was also a third team selection in 2006, while former men's basketball player Will Emerson was a two-time first team choice in 2005 and 2006 as the only other Academic All-America award winners in school history.

Burns, an outfielder who has twice earned Academic All-District recognition (2010 and 2011), is a business major with a 3.85 grade point average.

Burns has hit the baseball with the same fervor he does the books, sporting a healthy .356 batting average (73-205) as the MU team preps to begin play in the Atlantic Sun Conference championships on Wednesday evening. Burns tops the Mercer team in runs scored (68), on-base average (.473) and steals (29…in 32 attempts). He has amassed 19 extra-base hits (11 doubles, two triples and six home runs), while also driving in 31 runs primarily as the Bears' leadoff man.