June 11, 2020

Kennedy Claims CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American Honor

AUSTIN, Texas – Andrew Kennedy recently collected a top honor, earning a spot on the CoSIDA NAIA Baseball Academic All-America First-Team, as voted on and announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The prestigious 12-man list of First-Team Academic All-Americans consisted of student-athletes from around the NAIA and recognized individuals for academic and athletic accomplishments. Stats and honors from the individual's entire career were considered due to the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season for spring sports.

Kennedy collected his first CoSIDA Academic All-America honor after posting a 3.93 grade-point average in exercise science. The senior will also earn NAIA Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Crossroads League honors later this summer, marking the second-straight year with those academic honors.

On the field, Kennedy was a two-time All-Crossroads League standout and a two-way performer for the Trojans. The Northridge High product saw time in 168 games as a four-year contributor, posting a slash line of .302/.394/.456/.850 over 417 at bats and going 10-1 on the mound with 114 innings pitched.

Kennedy joined Erin Cozad of TU softball in receiving a CoSIDA Academic All-American award recently, moving the number of Taylor student-athletes to earn the honor in 2019-2020 to seven. That mark puts Taylor Athletics among the nation's finest, while TU leads all NCAA and NAIA institutions by a wide gap with 40 CoSIDA Academic All-District awards this year.

Taylor now boasts 92 CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in school history, with 90 of those coming since 2010. Of those 92 awards, 49 have been First-Team Academic All-Americans.

The Taylor baseball program has accounted for 12 of those total honors, with Kennedy becoming TU's sixth CoSIDA Academic All-American on the diamond.

The CoSIDA Academic All-American award is designed to recognize student-athletes for outstanding achievements in the classroom, as well as on the court or field of play. In order to be eligible for the honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30, must have reached sophomore status academically with at least one full year at their current institution and must have participated in over half of the team's competitions as a key contributor during the current season.

Student-athletes are nominated for the award by their institution's Sports Information Department and voted on by members of CoSIDA.