AUSTIN, Texas – Washington & Jefferson College junior outfielder
Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School) earned selection to the 2024 NCAA Division III Academic All-America® Baseball First Team, as chosen by the College Sports Communicators (CSC), which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
Zaas becomes the 75th student-athlete in W&J history to earn Academic All-America status from the College Sports Communicators (formerly known as CoSIDA) since 1978.
Zaas is the fourth W&J baseball student-athlete to earn Academic All-America First Team honors from the organization. He joins Josh Staniscia (2014),
Tyler Horvat (2021, 2022, 2023) and
Evan Sante (2022, 2023) in the exclusive group. All four earned First Team honors at least once during their collegiate careers. A total of seven W&J baseball players have earned All-America status overall from the organization. Sam Mann, Pat Kennedy and Riley Groves have also received spots on the second, second and third teams, respectively.
This past May, Zaas helped lead the Presidents to their 16th PAC Baseball title, earned First-Team All-Conference laurels and All-Tournament Team honors. He was later recognized as an All-Region First Team selection by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).
Zaas ranked 28th in D-III and first in the PAC with a .433 batting average, while also finishing as the conference leader in slugging percentage (.681), on-base percentage (.506) and OPS (1.187). He ranked second in home runs (eight), third in RBI (43) and third in total bases (96). Zaas had 17 multi-hit games this season, including eight games with three hits or more.
The junior baseball standout has compiled a 3.92 cumulative GPA while majoring in Economics. He recently earned the Walter Hudson Baker Prize in Economics. The three-time PAC Spring Academic Honor Roll recipient and six-time Dean's List student earned the Rule, Hughes, Murphy Award as one of the top sophomore scholars at W&J in 2022-23. Zaas, a two-time CSC All-District honoree, recently earned PAC SAAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Month for May.
Zaas is the President of the Investment Club on W&J's campus and is involved with the The Mirth Project; a non-profit that matches donors with underprivileged teens for Christmas gifts and means to pursue goals/career aspirations. In the 2022-23 academic year, Zaas was a LINK Mentor, guiding W&J freshmen through their transition to college with meetings and attendance at their First Year Seminar classes, as well as helping to facilitate orientation. He has also served as a student Intern at UBS Financial Services in 2022 and 2023.
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 2023-24 Division III Academic All-America® program.
To be eligible for the award, nominated and voted upon by Athletic Communication professionals, student-athletes must maintain a cumulative 3.50 GPA or higher and must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution. Nominees must have participated in at least 75 percent of the team's games and have legitimate athletic and academic credentials.
