Balentina Named to America East All-Academic Team
6/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of Maine senior pitcher Jonathan Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao) has been named to the 2011 America East Baseball All-Academic Team, announced on Tuesday, June 14. The team honors student-athletes who excel both academically as well as athletically.
Balentina is a senior civil engineering major with a 3.61 grade point average. He has been named a Maine Scholar-Athlete Award winner. This past year he was also named to Team Maine, for having the highest grade point average on the baseball team during the 2010 calendar year. Balentina has also been named to the America East Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll.
Balentina saw action in 17 games on the mound this season, starting four. He finished with a record of 3-1 with a 5.31 ERA. Balentina struck out 42 batters in 42.1 innings on the season. He combined for one shutout on the season and also earned a save. Balentina picked up his first win of the season on April 19 against Colby where he struck out a season-high seven batters. He earned his second win of the season with 5.1 innings of relief on April 30 against UMBC. He also earned a win in relief against Northeastern on May 10. He earned a save in Maine's victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on March 27. Balentina pitched 1.2 innings in relief against James Madison in the NCAA Regional. He did not allow a hit against the Dukes.
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference's nine member institutions decided to honor the league's top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the third straight year, America East has chosen the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA's Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisers and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team's games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.
-U-M-
