June 17, 2004
ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas-Arlington outfielder Hunter Pence proved that his success goes beyond the baseball diamond as he was named to the 11-member Southland Conference All-Academic Team the league announced Thursday. Pence owns a 3.25 GPA in Finance.
The all-academic team, voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators, honors those who have earned at least a 3.00 grade point average while serving as a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletic credentials. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing within the institution and must have completed one full academic year there.
The 11-member team is made up of nine seniors and two juniors led by Lamar's Jordan Foster who was named the SLC Baseball Student Athlete of the Year.
Pence (Arlington, Texas) closed out his playing career at UTA as the SLC Player and Hitter of the Year after hitting .395 with eight doubles, five triples, eight home runs and 35 RBIs. He was the SLC leader in batting average and slugging percentage (.616) despite missing 14 games with an injury. Earlier this week, Pence was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-South Central Region First Team and is now eligible for All-America recognition.
Pence is currently in contract negotiations with the Houston Astros after they selected him with their first pick of the draft in the second round, the 64th overall selection.
2004 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
NAME POS UNIVERSITY CLASS HOMETOWN GPA MAJOR
Tom Robbins P Texas State Senior Georgetown, Texas 3.19 Exercise & Sports Science
Ryan Schwabe P Louisiana-Monroe Senior Carroll, Iowa 3.32 Management
Jim Miller P Louisiana-Monroe Senior Ft. Myers, Fla. 3.04 Math
no eligible nominee C
Ryan Finan IF Lamar Senior Topeka, Kan. 3.51 Management
Ben Jones IF Louisiana-Monroe Senior Monroe, La. 3.04 Finance
Hunter Thoms IF Northwestern State Junior Ft. Worth, Texas 3.18 Business
Jonathan Stone IF Sam Houston State Senior Richmond, Texas 3.10 Kinesiology
*Jordan Foster OF Lamar Senior Arlington, Texas 3.76 Accounting
Hunter Pence OF Texas-Arlington Junior Arlington, Texas 3.25 Finance
Evan Tierce OF Texas State Senior Keller, Texas 3.59 Exercise & Sports Science
John Allen DH Lamar Senior Garland, Texas 3.28 Business
*Named Student-Athlete of the Year
