SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Baseball team had five student-athletes named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team.
Senior
Garrett Brooks (Spring Branch, Texas), junior
Matthew Janecek (Houston), junior
Dillon Lopez (San Antonio), senior
Edward Mendoza (Eagle Pass, Texas), and junior
Brandon Vasquez (Round Rock, Texas) were all honored on the team after helping lead the team to an appearance in the NCAA South Central Regional.
Brooks and Janecek are both two-time honorees, while the other three are being awarded for the first time in their careers. Brooks was also named to the Lone Star All-Academic team earlier this season.
Brooks was voted to the LSC All-Conference Third Team after hitting .315 for the year with a .425 on-base percentage and .535 slugging percentage. He led the team with 58 RBI, 10 home runs and 15 doubles. He split time between first base and right field during the season and graduated with a bachelor's degree in management.
Janecek is pursuing a degree in finance and risk management and appeared in 17 games with a 4-2 record and one save. He struck out 54, walking 25 over 41.2 innings, striking out a season-high nine batters in four innings in his first appearance of the year at Sul Ross State. It is the second-straight year that Janecek has been named to the prestigious team.
Lopez, who earned the league's Gold Glove award at catcher and is working on a bachelor's in exercise & sport science, was named to the Academic All-District for the first time. He hit .311 for the year and was second on the team with eight home runs. Lopez led the club with 13 sacrifice hits and caught 23 runners on the base paths. He reached base in his first 37 games of the year and made only one error during the regular season in over 300 chances behind the plate.
Mendoza earned Academic All-District honors after being named to the NCBWA All-Region second team. He finished his lone season with the Rattlers with a 3-2 record and a team-high eight saves, while completing his master's degree in business administration. Mendoza sported a 4.41 ERA, striking out 34 while walking only eight in 34.2 innings of work.
Vasquez led the starters with a 3.44 ERA, posting a record of 2-2 with one save and one complete game. In the LSC Tournament, Vasquez pitched in relief, holding Angelo State without a hit for 5.1 innings, fanning four. In 12 of his 17 appearances, he struck out at least three. Vasquez is also majoring in exercise & sport science.
