BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Matt Payton, Matt Rice and Matt Ridings were named Academic All-America by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and ESPN The Magazine, equaling in one year the number of Hilltopper baseball players who have picked up the national honor in the previous 36 years.
Payton and Ridings were given first-team Academic All-America honors, the only teammates on the first team in the nation, and Rice improved on his third-team Academic All-America selection in 2009 by earning second-team recognition in 2010.
Only 22 players nationally are given Academic All-America honors. Ridings is one of two pitchers and Payton is one of four infielders on the first team, and Rice is the second team's lone catcher.
All three were eligible for Academic All-America after being named to the all-district first team earlier this season. The other Hilltopper baseball Academic All-Americans are Jake Glasser (1973), Erick Rosa (1997) and Rice (2009).
WKU begins play in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday with a 12:30 PM showdown with top-seeded Florida Atlantic in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
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