Army West Point Athletics
Ball Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District Team
May 10, 2018 | Baseball
Official Release
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Senior Matt Ball of Army West Point baseball was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All District® Baseball Team, selected by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
Ball is now eligible for Google Cloud Academic All-America® honors, with the first and second teams being announced in June.
The senior has gone 6-2 this season with a 3.34 ERA, while boasting a 3.991 GPA in electrical engineering. He has worked 64.2 innings on the mound, striking out a team-best 74 batters. Ball has been recognized on the Dean's List every semester he's been at the Academy.
He excels across all pillars at the Academy and is recognized by not only his teammates, but the academy's leadership, for his accomplishments. Ball ranks 46th out of 1,043 cadets in his senior class and for this feat, he dons the golden "wreath" on his military uniform for the Superintendent's Award for Achievement and Excellence to distinguish his top-15 percent ranking across all three pillars.
The Charlotte, N.C., native is on the honors track for Electrical Engineering with a focus in Information Assurance and is working toward a minor in Cybersecurity. He has been a member of Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical Engineering Honor Society) for three years, being voted the Web Correspondent Officer in 2017, before being promote to the Vice President in 2018.
Ball was one of just 20 selected to join the Cyber Warfare Branch in November and has notched multiple 'Best in Class' awards while at the Academy, including the Thomas Hawkins Johnson Award for Excellence in Advanced Physics II. The right-handed pitcher has also been a member of Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society) and Phi Kappa Phi (Academic Honor Society) for two years, while earning Dean's List and Dean's Academic Stars all of the semesters he's been at West Point.
To go along with those honors, Ball was named to the baseball Academic All-Patriot League Team during the 2018 and 2016 seasons.
Militarily, he has had experience in many leadership development courses and has also been involved in Cadet Field and Basic Training, while earning Battalion Solider of the Quarter praise last year. He received the Recondo Badge, which was achieved during Cadet Field Training, for military and physical achievement as well.
Along with his military and athletic honors, Ball has a National Defense Service Medal to his record.
The Google Cloud Academic All-District® teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and College Division. The College Division includes all NAIA, Canadian, two-year schools and other affiliations.
For more information about CoSIDA's Google Cloud Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® Teams program, visit AcademicAllAmerica.com or the Academic All-America® home page on CoSIDA.com.
NCAA DIVISION I – DISTRICT 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT)
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name School GPA Yr. Major
P Matt Ball Army West Point 3.99 Sr. Electrical Engineering
P Kevin Magee St. John's 3.81 Sr. Homeland Security
P JJ Sliepka Brown 4.00 Jr. Economics
C Devan Peterson Harvard 3.83 Jr. Human & Evolutionary Biology
IF Nick Grande Stony Brook 4.00 So. Politics
IF Matt Rothenberg Harvard 3.79 Sr. Economics
IF Ryan Stekl Canisius 3.79 Sr. Health & Wellness
IF Simon Whiteman Yale 3.99 Jr. Chemical Engineering
OF Isaac Feldstein Connecticut 3.96/3.98 Gr. Financial Risk Management
OF Sam Fuller St. Bonaventure 3.99 Jr. Biology / History
OF Dustin Shirley Dartmouth 3.75 Sr. Psychology
DH Dale Wickham Cornell 3.62 Sr. Applied Economics & Management
