ESU CoSIDA Academic Awards History (PDF) | CoSIDA Release

EAST STROUDSBURG – The College Sports Information Directors of America released its 2019 Academic All-America teams for baseball on Wednesday, with East Stroudsburg University redshirt senior Christian Rishel being named to the Third Team as a designated hitter.
 
The Academic All-District and Academic All-America teams recognize student-athletes for athletic and academic achievements and are nominated and voted on by members of CoSIDA. District 2 of Division II follows the NCAA's regional model and includes all schools from the PSAC, MEC (Mountain East Conference) and CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association).
 
Rishel (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) earned his second all-conference award after being named an All-PSAC East first-team member as a designated hitter in 2016. He received second-team honors this year at the same position after starting 47 of ESU's 50 games and batting .296. He sported a 3.89 grade-point average during the 2018-19 academic year while working towards his master's degree in Organizational Behavior at ESU.
 
The ESU baseball program has had five Academic All-American's since Mike Petruny first garnered the honor for the Warriors in 1979. Jay Young was ESU's most recent member of the baseball team to earn the distinction in the spring of 2015. Rishel becomes the 50th student-athlete from ESU to earn Academic All-America distinction. The Warriors have garnered a total of 70 selections.
 
He appeared in 184 games for the Warriors, which is tied for sixth all-time in program history with Jacob DeBoer, who played in the same number of games from 2004-07. His 184 career hits rank 12th all-time, while his 18 home runs and 128 RBI rank third all-time at ESU. Rishel also ranks in the top-20 of several other all-time statistical categories at ESU.
 
Rishel played in 48 games this season for the Warriors and recorded 40 hits, three home runs, and 22 runs batted in. He added nine doubles to go along with 23 runs scored and 21 walks.
 
In 2016, he helped the Warriors to a school record 38 wins and a third NCAA Div. II tournament appearance in six years. Rishel played all 56 games and hit .372 with 71 hits, 11 doubles, nine home runs, and 55 RBI. His 71 hits rank seventh all-time in school history for a single season, while his 55 RBI are fifth and his nine home runs and 111 total bases seventh.
 
ESU's baseball program has also received six Academic All-District selection's since the 2009 season, with Rishel being named to the District 2 First Team as a designated hitter in May. Eric Boyer received the award three times (2011-13) for the Warriors. A total of 107 student-athletes have combined for 155 selections since the inception of the Academic All-District program.