2016 WCC All-Academic Teams

Juniors J.D. Busfield and Spencer Erdman were lauded for their academic accomplishments in addition to their play on the field this week, nabbing West Coast Conference All-Academic honorable mention honors.

Busfield carries a 3.25 GPA as a finance major. The right-hander began the year as LMU's Friday starter, ultimately finishing the season with a 5-4 record and a 4.08 ERA over 13 starts and 88.1 innings of work. The native of Valencia, Calif. struck out 61 batters to just 10 walks. In WCC play, Busfield accumulated a 4-4 record over nine starts, which also included LMU's lone complete game. Busfield walked just nine batters over 63.2 innings pitched against conference foes.

Erdman, who transferred to LMU prior to this year, earned a 3.36 GPA as an economics major during his first year. The native of San Jose, Calif. batted .290 over the course of 52 games played and 49 starts at shortstop. Erdman scored 27 runs and collected eight doubles while driving in 19 runs. The team leader in sacrifice bunts with 14, he also stole seven bases.

Five WCC student-athletes on the all-academic squad earned a spot on the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 First Team: Gonzaga junior Brandon Bailey (Sport Management), Pepperdine juniors Aaron Barnett (Economics) and Matt Crowder (Economics) Gonzaga senior Taylor Jones (Communication Studies) and San Francisco junior Blake Valley (Finance).

Anthony Villa of Saint Mary's earned his third consecutive first team selection. Barnett, Gonzaga's Joey Harris, Saint Mary's Nate Nolan joined Villa as multi-year recipients for academic achievement. San Francisco's Anthony Shew maintained a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA as a graduate student in Business.

All told, five West Coast Conference baseball student-athletes posted a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or better and 20 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. No fewer than 37 WCC student-athletes met the academic criteria for baseball.

2016 WEST COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Brandon Bailey | Gonzaga | Jr. | 3.43 | Sport Management
Ryan Barr | Portland | Sr. | 3.54 | Mechanical Engineering
Aaron Barnett | Pepperdine | Jr. | 3.79 | Economics
Matt Crowder | Pepperdine | Jr. | 3.98 | Economics
David Dellaserra | Saint Mary's | Sr. | 3.73 | Allied Health Science
Joey Harris | Gonzaga | Sr. | 3.60 | Business Administration
Taylor Jones | Gonzaga | Sr. | 3.52 | Communication Studies
Nate Nolan | Saint Mary's | Jr. | 3.56 | Economics
Anthony Shew | San Francisco | Sr. | 4.00 | Business
Nate Verlin | Pacific | So. | 3.71 | Computer Science
Blake Valley | San Francisco | Jr. | 3.85 | Finance
Anthony Villa | Saint Mary's | Sr. | 3.57 | Business Administration
Caleb Whalen | Portland | Grad. | 3.95 | Master's Education

2016 WEST COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-ACADEMIC HONORABLE MENTION
Dustin Breshears, Gonzaga; Sam Brown, Gonzaga; J.D. Busfield, Loyola Marymount; Tanner Chauncey, BYU; Spencer Erdman, Loyola Marymount; Joey Fiske, Saint Mary's; Kiko Garcia, Pepperdine; Nico Giarratano, San Francisco; Peter Hendron, Santa Clara; Cooper Hummel, Portland; Jackson Lockwood, Portland; Tyler Meditz, Santa Clara; Austin Piscotty, Saint Mary's; Brett Rasso, Saint Mary's; Ben Rodriguez, Pepperdine; Mike Rucker, BYU; Nathan Simmons, Saint Mary's; Matt Sinatro, San Francisco; Logan Steingberg, Saint Mary's; Drew Strotman, Saint Mary's; Frank Waliczek, San Francisco; Steven Wilson, Santa Clara