AUSTIN, Texas – Ave Maria University baseball player Francesco Barbieri earned one final honor to cap his historic senior season on Tuesday, as the outfielder was named a Second Team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators. The Brampton, Ontario native is the first player to be named an Academic All-American in the history of the Ave Maria baseball program.
Academic All-American is a title reserved for college student-athletes who perform at an elite level in their chosen sport and in the classroom. The all-time list of 40,000+ Academic All-Americans includes major sports stars and some of the world's most accomplished individuals in medicine, business, science and the arts. Established in 1952 and selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC), Academic All-America is the longest running and premier award for athletic and academic success across championship college sports at all NCAA levels, the NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian institutions.
Barbieri is one of 23 athletes from across the NAIA to be honored as an Academic All-American - eleven on the first team and 12 on the second team. The 23-man NAIA team has a 3.82 average GPA with the first team checking in at 3.88.
The NAIA Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NAIA national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2023-24 NAIA Academic All-America® program.
Barbieri had the greatest single-season AMU history. He was named the SUN Conference Player of the Year, leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, OPS, walks, triples and home runs. He set the program record for slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS, posting just the third 1+ OPS season in school history. He also set the single season record for walks and home runs, breaking the record with just the second three-home run game in AMU history.
In addition to his spot as the Sun Conference Player of the Year, the All-American was also an Academic All-Sun Conference, CSC Academic All-District, and Sun Conference All-Tournament Team selection. Off the field, Barbieri earned a 3.78 grade point average in Ave Maria's Master's of Business Administration program.
Ave Maria finished the 2024 season with a record of 22-26. Despite the losing record, 2024 should be remembered as an up year for the Gyrenes. AMU started the year ranked #15 in the country, the highest they have ever been ranked in school history. The Gyrenes had two players named to the First All-SUN team, Francesco Barbieri and Davis Blair. It is the first time since 2018 Ave Maria has had anyone on the first team and the most since 2013. The Gyrenes had six players overall get nominated as All-Conference players, again the most in team history since 2013.
As a team, the set the program record for home runs and slugging percentage while posting the second on-base percentage.
