A school record-tying four Missouri State baseball Bears were named to the Missouri Valley Scholar-Athlete First
Team Monday as seniors Brayden Drake and Chris Playter and juniors Buddy Baumann and Ben Carlson were among 17 student-athletes selected in a vote of the league’s sports information directors.
Drake, a senior third baseman from Webb City, Mo., hit .414 with 10 homers and 54 RBIs on the way to becoming the MVC’s Joe Carter Player of the Year in 2009. Also a third-team All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, Drake has a 3.18 GPA in hospitality and restaurant administration.
Playter, a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII pick this year, was also an honorable mention all-MVC pick as a utility player after batting .308 with 46 RBIs and starting all 54 games for the Bears. He had 11 game-winning RBIs this year to rank third in school history. The senior from Kansas City graduated last month with a communications degree and a 3.82 GPA.
Baumann, who is a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Third Team member and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper second team pick, went 11-1 with a 3.23 ERA and 101 strikeouts for the Bears as the MVC Pitcher of the Year. The Rogersville, Mo., native is the second baseball player in school history, joining Carlson last season, to reach All-America status for both athletic and academic performance in the same season. He has a 3.36 GPA in history education.
Carlson, a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American second-teamer and first-team all-MVC choice in the outfield, hit .301 with an MVC-leading 16 homers and 51 RBIs this year. The Topeka, Kan., ranks seventh in school history with 38 career homers and owns the school hit by pitch record with 41 in his three years. Carlson repeats as an Academic All-American and MVC Scholar-Athlete, and has a 3.79 GPA in general business. He was the only unanimous selection to the MVC Scholar-Athlete team this year.
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College
Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters
or important reserves, with at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average. Student-athletes must have reached
sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic
year at their institution.
A total of 40 student-athletes were nominated.
2009 MVC Baseball Scholar-Athlete First Team
Buddy Baumann, Missouri State
Ben Carlson, Missouri State
Ryan Court, Illinois State
Brayden Drake, Missouri State
Andrew Dunn, Southern Illinois
Grant Escue, Bradley
John Foley, Evansville
Robbie Knight, Creighton
Clint McKeever, Wichita State
Chris Playter, Missouri State
Darin Ruf, Creighton
Brady Shoemaker, Indiana State
2009 MVC Baseball Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
Nick Ciolli, Indiana State
Ryan Jones, Wichita State
T.J. Roemmich, Creighton
Ryan Strausborger, Indiana State
Jason Summers, UNI
