Jun 5, 2015 1 min read

University of Cincinnati baseball player Ian Happ from Mt. Lebanon was named First Team Capital One Academic All-America as announced by College Sports Information Directors of America.

The junior becomes the first UC baseball player to be named to the first team and just the third to earn Academic All-America honors in program history. He joins Craig Tewes, who was named to the second team in 2001, and Jack Nelson, who picked up third team recognition in 2006. In total, he is the athletic department’s 13th first-team Academic All-American and the first since track and field athlete Eric Finan in 2012.

Happ finished the season atop the American Athletic Conference rankings in batting average (.369), slugging percentage (.672), on-base percentage (.492), total bases (133) and walks (49). He was named the 2015 American Player of the Year and has picked up two All-America honors to date.

In addition to his athletic abilities, Happ has recorded a 3.68 GPA as a finance major in three years at Cincinnati. He is a five-time dean’s list and honor roll recipient and is a two-time Conference All-Academic Team member. He was named the UC Scholar Athlete of the Month in April, and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 first-team member in May.