AUSTIN, Texas –
Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) of the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team was recognized as the top student-athlete in NCAA Division III baseball for the 2023 season by earning CSC Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year honors, the College Sports Communicators announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Horvat, now a three-time Academic All-America selection, becomes the first W&J student-athlete to be selected as the prestigious Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year in any sport. Horvat also earned a spot on the CSC First Team while his teammate,
Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum), claimed a spot on the 2023 Third Team.
Horvat becomes the first three-time Academic All-America in W&J baseball history while Sante joins him as the only other President to be honored on multiple occasions.
"Tyler was an absolute joy to coach," said 21st year head coach
Jeff Mountain. "He is truly the definition of the term student-athlete. He left his mark at W&J and we will miss his competitiveness next year."
Horvat, a finance major at W&J, posted a 3.99 cumulative GPA. A pitcher and outfielder for the Presidents, Horvat earned five All-America awards during his career, including selection this season by both the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com as a utility player.
He was named the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference Pitcher and 2023 Player of the Year. On the mound this year, Horvat posted an 11-3 record, with career highs of 82 strikeouts and 93-1/3 innings. He compiled a 29-4 career record to establish a new school record with 29 career wins. He patrolled centerfield for W&J when he wasn't on the mound. Horvat hit .387 this year, scoring 54 runs from the leadoff spot. He set a school single-season record with 30 stolen bases this year, and his 62 career steals are also a school record.
The Irwin, Pa. native is one of two members of the 2023 Division III team earning their third career selection to the Division III Academic All-America® Team. He earned first team honors this year and in 2022 to go with second team recognition in 2021.
"Being a part of a successful program at W&J has been unreal," Horvat said. "This experience has been everything I could have dreamed for and more. It starts with Coach Mountain at the top. He has been phenomenal at setting the culture for the program. Being around the guys every day has been a lot of fun. Guys that work hard and want to succeed. I am thankful and grateful for them."
Horvat will be continuing his education as he pursues a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Bryant University. In addition, he will continue his collegiate baseball career at the Division I level for the Bulldogs.
This marks the second-straight year that Sante was honored. A First Team selection last year, he amassed a cumulative 3.91 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in Biochemistry.
Sante, a three-time All-PAC selection, tied for the team lead with six home runs. He added a team-best 41 RBI, a total which ranked second among conference players. Sante combined for four hits including a walk-off double in the team's doubleheader split with Grove City on April 3. He finished his W&J career with 20 home runs, which ranks as the fourth most in program history.
He earned Deans List status in all eight semesters and will be a four-time member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll. Sante received the Rule, Hughes, Murphy Award as a sophomore in 2021. He plans to attend the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in the summer of 2023.
"Like Tyler,
Evan Sante was also a joy to coach," Mountain stated. "I enjoyed the back-and-forth banter with him throughout the past four years. He will be greatly missed by our program both on and off the field next year."
The Division III team boasts an overall average GPA of 3.846 with a 3.92 average for the first team. Nine student-athletes boast 4.0 GPAs. The Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2022-23 Division III Academic All-America® program.
