BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan University’s James Rinne was
elected to the first team of the GTE College Division Academic All-America®
baseball team and was chosen as the “Academic All-America of the Year.”
Rinne is only the second IWU athlete to win Academic All-American
of the Year honors. Quarterback Lon Erickson was the College Division Football
Academic All-America of the Year in 1996.
Senior pitcher Nathan Knuffman was also elected to the third
team of the Academic All-America squad.
The selections bring to 90 the total number of Academic All-America
berths earned by IWU students since the program began in 1970. Only Nebraska,
Notre Dame, and Bucknell have more total Academic All-Americans than Illinois
Wesleyan.
To be considered for the GTE Academic All-America squads, players
must be of at least sophomore standing, have a cumulative grade-point average
of 3.2 (of 4.0), and be a starter or first-line reserve. The teams are
chosen by a voting board representing the 1,800 members of the College
Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Rinne, a junior centerfielder from Bloomington (Normal Community
HS), was a second team GTE Academic All-American in 1997. He has a 3.847
grade-point average as a physics major and is a member of the Phi Kappa
Phi honorary.
A first team Division III All-American as a sophomore, Rinne
led the 1998 team with a .447 average and set a school record with seven
triples. After three seasons, the three-time all-College Conference of
Illinois and Wisconsin player ranks first in the school’s career categories
of triples (12) and batting average (.446), and is second in hits (183),
runs (148), and home runs (24). He is also third in career runs batted
in (133) and fifth in doubles (34).
He is the son of Jerry and Cheryl Oswald of Bloomington.
Knuffman (Manville, Streator Woodland HS) has a grade-point average
of 3.65 as an economics and political science major. He was one of two
IWU winners of the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for Academic Achievement in political
science and was one of 39 “Distinguished Business Senior” award winners.
He was inducted into the Order of Titans honorary and is a member of Omicron
Delta Epsilon economics honorary.
Knuffman was elected the CCIW’s “Most Outstanding Player” this
spring as he set a school season record for pitching victories in a season
with his 11-1 mark and broke the IWU record for career wins with 21. He
had an earned run average of 4.06 this spring and fanned 64 hitters in
71 innings. He finished his career third among IWU pitchers with 168 strikeouts.
He is the son of Rick and Holly Knuffman of rural Manville.
FIRST TEAM
P - David Bradley, Marietta, junior, 3.85, mathematics
P - Todd Flannery, Johns Hopkins, senior, 3.61, biology
C - Michael Meeuwsen, Hope, senior, 3.88, accounting
IF - Jimmy Costa, Rose-Hulman, senior, 3.73, electrical engineering
IF - Eric Heise, Ohio Wesleyan, senior, 3.54, economics management
IF - Scott Heying, Incarnate Word, senior, 3.96, biology
IF - Jim Wideikis, John Carroll, junior, 3.52, political science
OF - John Christ, Johns Hopkins, junior, 3.35, mechanical engineering
OF - David Franke, North Dakota State, senior, 3.89, mechanical engineering
OF - Aaron Kramer, St. Norbert, senior, 3.36, business administration
OF - James Rinne, Illinois Wesleyan, junior, 3.85, physics
DH - Brayden Whitney, Central Missouri State, senior, 3.34, business
management
SECOND TEAM
P - David Ciesla, Arkansas Tech, senior, 3.95, biology/pre-med
P - Mark Dolan, Slippery Rock, senior, 3.52, sociology
C - Brad Shorter, Pittsburg State, senior, 3.70, psychology
IF - Jason Darling, Central (Iowa), senior, 3.88, elementary education
IF - Jay Grona, Tarleton State, senior, 3.62, agribusiness
IF - Tom Lee, Jr., Mississippi College, senior, 4.00, history (pre-law)
and business
IF - Pat Tobiasz, Wisconsin-Whitewater, senior, 3.64, biology/geography
OF - Mark Drake, Pittsburg State, junior, 4.00, elementary education
OF - Andy Reeb, St. Francis (Ill.), sophomore, 3.92, finance
DH - Dave Ceccanechio, College of New Jersey, senior, 3.37, law and
justice
THIRD TEAM
P - Nathan Knuffman, Illinois Wesleyan, senior, 3.65, economics
P - Brad Rudloff, Baldwin-Wallace, senior, 3.89, business administration
C - Aaron Braund, Winona State, senior, 3.27, school and community
health
IF - Matt Barcellona, Chapman, junior, 3.86, biology/chemistry
IF - Pat Burke, King’s College (Pa.), senior, 3.28, accounting
IF - Tom Fagan, DePauw, senior, 3.81, economics
IF - David Moore, Drew, senior, 3.80, chemistry
OF - Craig Bonsall, Central Arkansas, sophomore, 3.93, accounting
OF - Chris McAuley, Emory, senior, 3.48, business administration
OF - Aaron Myers, York (Pa.), senior, 3.86, accounting
DH - Greg Berchelmann, Amherst, junior, 3.38, computer science