ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Fifteen league baseball players have been named to the 2019 MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. The scholar-athlete teams were voted on by the conference’s baseball sports information contacts and announced by the league office today.  

DBU earned the most first team selections, four, including a repeat honoree in Jarod Bayless. Bradley, Illinois State and Valparaiso each placed three players on the first team. Bradley's Andy Shadid and Luke Shadid are repeat selections, while teammate Cole Cook is a first-time honoree. Illinois State's Joe Butler and Brent Headrick are first-time selections, while teammate Joe Aeilts claimed the honor after earning honorable mention accolades a year ago. Valpo's Jon Tieman landed on the first team for the second-straight year, while teammates Blake Billinger and Steven Fitzsimmons appear for the first time.  Indiana State's Collin Liberatore and Southern Illinois' Brad Harrison round out the first team selections.

Five of the 15 first team spots are held by graduating seniors, while nine juniors and one sophomore complete the makeup of the squad.

Six league schools are represented on the first team, with an additional 12 student-athletes named to the honorable mention team. A total of 49 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 Google Cloud 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.