Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball's Matt Capece Named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team
5/30/2006 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 30, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell baseball senior Matt Capece (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine 2006 Academic All-America Baseball Third Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Tuesday. With the award, the shortstop becomes the 111th student-athlete in Bucknell history to earn Academic All-America honors.
Capece is the 29th Bucknell baseball player to receive Academic All-America recognition since 1970, the first since Russ Lindberg was named to the first team in 2001. To be considered for Academic All-America, a student-athlete must carry a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average or higher, have completed one year of coursework at his university and be a starter or significant reserve.
An All-Patriot League first team selection, Capece started all but one game at shortstop for the Bison this spring and missed just two contests in his final two seasons with the Orange and Blue. In 20 Patriot League games in 2006, Capece registered a league-best 18 RBI and a .447 batting average. He batted .336 overall in his senior campaign with 31 runs scored and posted career highs with 59 hits, 26 RBI and eight doubles. His team-leading 17 stolen bases was also a career-best and he led the Bucknell squad with 10 sacrifice hits as well.
In addition to his on-field achievements, Capece enjoyed success in the classroom with a cumulative 3.71 GPA as a civil and environmental engineering major with a minor in mathematics (statistics), including managing a perfect 4.0 in the 2006 Spring semester. A three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll member, Capece participated in Bucknell Brigade, a week-long service trip to Nicaragua which involved collecting monetary and medical donations on campus, was a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity and as a member of Sigma Chi, organized and participated in a local Habitat for Humanity project.
Capece is Bucknell's first Academic All-American this year and was the lone Patriot League baseball player to be named to the Academic All-America teams.
The Bison finished the 2006 season as Patriot League Regular Season Co-Champions with a PL record of 13-7. Bucknell went 24-24 overall and was the runner-up to Lehigh in the Patriot League postseason tournament.
