By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech seniors Trevor Putzig and Chase Chambers have been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District® Baseball Team, selected by CoSIDA.
It represents the second straight All-District honor for Putzig, who was also selected to the CoSIDA Academic® All-America Second Team last year.
Putzig leads the Golden Eagles this season with 63 RBI while posting a .331 batting average, 55 runs scored, 11 doubles, 14 home runs and 37 walks in 45 games as the team's starting third baseman.
Named Tech's 2017-18 Man of the Year at the 2018 Golden Wings Awards, Putzig has proven to be a consistent worker in the classroom his entire career, earning a place on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll in each of his seven semesters at Tech and has also been named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll three times in three years.
Known for his relentless effort on defense and highlight-reel plays, as well as the ability to put the ball in play, the Louisville, Ky. native graduated last weekend with 3.75 GPA and a bachelor's degree in finance.
Chambers makes his first appearance on the Academic All-District Team, after graduating last weekend with a 3.50 GPA and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
The senior first baseman leads the Ohio Valley Conference with a .416 batting average and .515 on base percentage. He also leads the Golden Eagles with 63 RBI and ranks second with 37 walks. In 47 games, he has scored 60 runs while slugging .674 with 11 doubles and 12 home runs.
One of the best defensive first basemen in the country (he boasts a .986 fielding percentage) and one of greatest sluggers in Golden Eagle history, Chambers has appeared on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll seven times and to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll three times.
Putzig and Chambers raise the number of Golden Eagle student-athletes named to CoSIDA Academic All-District teams since 1985 to 125. Chambers becomes the ninth Tech baseball player to earn the honor, while Putzig becomes just the second baseball player in program history to earn the honor twice (Ben Holt, 1991 & 1993).
He joins Golden Eagle football players Josh Poplar and Jordan Smith as recipients of Academic All-District honors this year.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America and Academic All-District is organized and voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Putzig is one of just six players from the Ohio Valley Conference to earn Academic All-District honors. Eastern Kentucky's Alex Holderbach and Nick Howie also took home the honor.
All of the first-team players will now have their names placed into consideration for Academic All-America honors.
The No. 19 Golden Eagles, along with Putzig and Chambers, will return to action Friday evening to kick off a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series with Eastern Kentucky. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.
Photos by Tony Marable / Thomas Corhern
