Three `Jacks Named To All-Academic Teams
6/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 16, 2009
FRISCO, Texas - The SFA baseball team had three players named to the Southland Conference All-Academic teams on Tuesday, with Erich Lehmann and Zach Gardner each being named to the first time while Brian Ferguson was named to the second team. The three players selected tied SFA with four other schools for the most players selected.
It is the third time Lehmann has earned his way onto the all-academic team, but the first time that he has been named to the first team. The senior put together a cumulative 3.71 GPA in criminal justice and recently was chosen as the most outstanding student in the College of Liberal Arts at SFA. On the field Lehmann pieced together a standout season, being named to the All-SLC second team after going 7-4 with a 4.23 ERA. He won six of his final seven starts and added 57 strikeouts to his career total, leaving SFA as the school's all-time leader in strikeouts, wins and innings pitched.
Gardner followed up an appearance on the 2008 all-academic second team with an appearance on the first team in 2009 after being named honorable mention All-SLC. The school's all-time leader in hits, doubles, runs and stolen bases graduated in the spring with a 3.66 GPA in finance and enjoyed his best offensive season as a Lumberjack in his senior campaign. His power numbers jumped up as well as a senior, as he smashed six home runs and drove in 29 runs after never having hit more than two homers in a career. Gardner finished with a .335 average and set career highs with 18 doubles and 16 stolen bases.
Ferguson paired together a 3.37 GPA in finance with a breakout season to earn all-academic second team honors for the first time. The senior from Sugar Land was the primary cleanup hitter for the `Jacks this season, hitting .332 with 37 RBI, 11 doubles and six triples - an SFA single-season record. Ferguson put together a career-best 12-game hit streak and even was named SLC Hitter of the Week on April 6 after an 11-for-20 series against UTSA that saw him finish with a 4-for-4 afternoon that included the go-ahead RBI single against the Roadrunners in an SFA win.
Lehmann, Gardner and Ferguson helped lead the `Jacks to the SLC Tournament in Corpus Christi for just the second time in the program's history. SFA finished 23-32 on the year and 14-18 in the Southland Conference.
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