ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Twelve league baseball players have been named to the 2012 MVC Scholar-Athlete First team, including one unanimous selection, Creighton's Ty Blach, as voted on by the conference’s baseball sports information directors and announced by the league office today. 

Evansville and Indiana State earned the most first team selections, as three-time first team selection Trentt Copeland is joined by Purple Aces' teammates Jason Hockemeyer and Jason Kohler, while Indiana State's Jeremy Lucas and Koby Kraemer, both two-time first team honorees, are joined by fellow Sycamore Jon Hedges. Creighton had two selections, as Bluejay Nick Judkins joins Blach, while Illinois State (Chad Hinshaw), Missouri State (Brent Seifert), Southern Illinois (Austin Montgomery) and Wichita State (Kevin Hall) each had one honoree. 

Six of the 12 first team spots are held by graduating seniors, with five juniors and one sophomore completing the makeup of the first team.

In all, seven league schools are represented on the first team, with an additional 12 student-athletes named to the honorable mention team. A total of 36 student-athletes were nominated for scholar-athlete honors. 

The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average.  Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.