University of San Francisco Athletics

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Nine University of San Francisco baseball players received West Coast Conference All-Academic honors Wednesday, as announced by the conference, including junior right-handed pitcher Riley Ornido landing on the WCC All-Academic First Team for the second year in a row, and sophomore infielder Jack Winkler being named to the First Team in his first year of eligibility.
 
Along with Ornido and Winkler's first team honors, Robert Emery, Thomas McCarthy, Scott Parker, Alex Pham, Riki Urata, Tyler Villaroman and Grant Young were all named WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention. San Francisco had the second-most total honorees behind Portland's 12, and matched BYU's and Gonzaga's total of two first team members.
 
All told, 10 West Coast Conference baseball student-athletes posted a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or better and a whopping 28 posted a GPA of 3.50 or better. At the conclusion of each athletic season, the WCC selects an all-academic squad for each WCC-sponsored sport. To be considered, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average, while also being a significant contributor to his team.
 
Ornido, who sports a 3.69 Grade Point Average in his economics major, was named to the All-WCC Preseason Team this year following his all-WCC First Team and WCC All-Academic First Team campaign in 2018. He was part of four shutouts thrown by USF this season and held opponents to a .256 batting average with 74 strikeouts. He went 4-0 with just two runs allowed over four starts from Feb. 22 to March 15. He posted a 0.62 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 29 innings and threw at least seven innings in each start during that four-game personal winning streak.
 
Winkler, who carries a 3.85 GPA while majoring in biology, adds a WCC All-Academic First Team nod to his resume that already includes being named to the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team for District 8 this spring. He is currently a candidate for Academic All-American thanks to that All-District First Team honor, and he received WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll Gold Honors as a freshman last year. Winkler started 2019 with a 12-game hitting streak and hit safely in 25 of his first 27 games. He started every game at shortstop this season for the Dons and his batting average never dropped below .300. He was named all-WCC Honorable Mention on Tuesday.
 
Robert Emery, a 3.39 GPA student in business administration, earned all-WCC Second Team honors Tuesday after leading the Dons with a .320 batting average. He was named to the Buster Posey Award watch list this season, an award given annually to the top collegiate catcher. Villaroman, a 3.61 GPA student in business administration, was also named to the all-WCC Second Team thanks in part to batting .300 during WCC games and stealing a team-high 21 bases on the year.
 
Scott Parker, a 3.43 GPA grad student in sports management, and Alex Pham, a 3.52 GPA student in business administration: finance, both earned all-WCC Honorable Mention honors Tuesday. Grant Young, a 3.79 GPA student in business administration: marketing, tied for the team lead with 28 appearances. Thomas McCarthy, a 3.73 GPA student in political science, caught Ornido all season long while posting a .992 fielding percentage behind the dish. Riki Urata, a 3.55 GPA student in business administration: international business, started 50 games in the infield for the Dons, batting a career-best .223 with eight RBIs and 15 runs scored.

2019 WCC Baseball All-Academic First Team

Name	School	Yr.	GPA	Major
Chris Clements	Portland	Gr.	3.83	M.A. Science
Jackson Cluff	BYU	So.	3.85	Pre-Business
** Daniel Fredrickson	Gonzaga	Sr.	3.85	Mechanical Engineering
* Matthew Kanfer	Pepperdine	Sr.	3.43	Media Production
Eric Lex	Santa Clara	Gr.	3.83	M.A. Educational Leadership
Ryan Novis	Saint Mary's	Jr.	3.56	Accounting
* Riley Ornido	San Francisco	Jr.	3.69	Economics
Ripken Reyes	San Diego	Gr.	3.45	Leadership Studies
** Brandon Shearer	Loyola Marymount	Sr.	3.58	Entrepreneurship
Michael Spellacy	Gonzaga	So.	3.96	Psychology & Philosophy
Jack Winkler	San Francisco	So.	3.85	Biology
Jordan Wood	BYU	Sr.	3.61	Exercise Science
Nate Verlin	Pacific	Gr.	4.00	Engineering

* Multi-Year Selection

2019 WCC Baseball All-Academic Honorable Mention
BYU: Danny Gelalich, Brock Hale, Blake Inouye
GONZAGA: Justin Blatner, Austin Pinorini, Trent Schulte
LMU: Giuseppe Benedetti, Ryan Ruley
PACIFIC: Samson Abernathy, Keaton Glover, Alex LeForestier, Henrik Reinertsen, Michael Riccupito, Lucas Sweany
PEPPERDINE: Billy Cook, Aharon Modlin, Michael Mahony, Christian Stoutland
PORTLAND: Cody Hawken, Matt Kelly, Daniel Lopez, Jace McKinney, Hunter Montgomery, Eli Morse, Nate Packard, Christian Peters, Cameron Richman, Gabe Skoro, Chad Stevens
SAINT MARY'S: Austin Chauvin, JC Santini, Conor Thane
SAN DIEGO: Adam Kerner
SAN FRANCISCO: Robert Emery, Thomas McCarthy, Scott Parker, Alex Pham, Riki Urata, Tyler Villaroman, Grant Young
SANTA CLARA: Tony Boetto, Jason Dicochea, Eric Lex, Ryan McCarthy, Andre Nnebe