From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Four members of the Case Western Reserve University baseball team were recognized among the top achieving student-athletes in Division III this year, as senior catcher Jack Anderson was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second Team, while junior pitcher Tyler Horvath, junior infielder Zack Carinci, and sophomore outfielder Nick Harms were each named to the third team.
The four honorees from CWRU were more than any other NCAA (Division I, II, or III) or NAIA school this season. Georgia Tech (Division I), Stanford (Division I), Point Loma (Division II), and Shenandoah (Division III) were each second behind CWRU with three honorees each.
The four Spartans selected were also unprecedented in CWRU Athletics history, as no single team in school history had ever placed more than four members on a CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America Team in one year. As a department, CWRU has now had 18 athletes named Academic All-Americans this season, more than any other year in department history, and has registered 150 Academic All-America selections from 110 student-athletes all-time.
CWRU baseball has now had 11 Academic All-America honors all-time from 10 different players. Anderson, Horvath, Carinci, and Harms join former Spartans Tom Mager (first team in 1997), John Fortunado (first team in 2014), Andrew Frey (second team in 2014), Kerrigan Cain (first team in 2015), Connor Tagg (second team in 2016), and Rocco Maue (first team in 2018 and 2019) as the program's Academic All-Americans. This was the first Academic All-America honor for each of the four.
Anderson was named a consensus All-American in 2023 after being selected to the ABCA Third Team and the D3baseball.com Second Team. He was also named the University Athletic Association Position Player of the Year and to the All-UAA First Team, in addition to claiming a spot on the All-Region First Team. He set program records during the campaign with 89 hits and 25 doubles (both second among DIII players). He finished the season hitting .468, the 11th-best mark in Division III, and led all CWRU players with 56 runs, five triples, 45 runs batted in, 15 stolen bases, and a .523 on base percentage. Anderson connected for three home runs during the year and slugged a team-high .700. He was a two-time D3baseball.com Team of the Week honoree, a three-time UAA Athlete of the Week, and was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Marietta Regional. Anderson, a mechanical engineering major, has a 3.711 cumulative grade point average and will be attending law school at CWRU next year.
Horvath was named to the D3baseball.com All-America Second Team last year and entered this season as a Preseason All-America First Team honoree. He also claimed UAA Co-Pitcher of the Year and All-UAA First Team honors as a sophomore. In 2023, he made 16 appearances out of the bullpen, going 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA and four saves, while striking out 26 batters in 25 innings and holding opponents to a .187 batting average. Horvath has a perfect 4.0 GPA as a finance major and is a two-time Academic All-UAA honoree.
Carinci tallied a program-record 32-game hitting streak and claimed a spot on the All-UAA First team for the third-straight season in 2023. He started all 43 games and hit .356 with 44 runs scored, 15 doubles, two home runs, 42 runs batted in, and 14 stolen bases. Carinci, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, has a 3.889 cumulative grade point average and is a two-time Academic All-UAA honoree.
Harms matched the CWRU record for home runs in a season, hitting 11 in 2023 and bringing his career total to 20, just two behind both Steve Rosiek and Gordon Daily for the program record just two seasons into his time as a Spartan. He hit .337 during the year with 50 runs scored, 42 runs batted in, 19 doubles (the second-most ever by a Spartan player), and 10 stolen bases. Harms finished the campaign slugging .663 with a .427 on base percentage. He was named to the All-UAA First Team earlier in the year and was named the UAA Hitter of the Week on March 27. Harms has a 3.954 cumulative GPA as a computer science major and received UAA All-Academic honors earlier this year.
The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes tennis honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA. The Division III CSC Academic All-America programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structures to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2022-23 Divisions III Academic All-America programs.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.50 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at their current institution, and be selected to an Academic All-District team.
The Spartans ended the 2023 campaign with a 28-15 overall record. CWRU reached the NCAA Division III Championships for the sixth time in program history during the season.