Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
MSU Baseball’s Dillon Kark Collects CSC Academic All-America Accolades
7/2/2024 12:02:00 PM | Baseball
Senior infielder earns first Academic All-America honor; marks back-to-back years for Spartan baseball.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's Dillon Kark was tabbed to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® Third-Team baseball team, announced by CSC Tuesday afternoon.
A senior from White Lake, Michigan, Kark's Academic All-America accolade is the second-straight year for a Spartan after Brock Vradenburg was named to the CSC Academic All-America® First-Team last year. This marks the first time MSU baseball has had an Academic All-America honoree in back-to-back seasons since 2010-11, when Brandon Eckerle garnered first-team recognition in 2011 after earning third-team honors in 2011.
To date, Kark is the fourth Michigan State Athletics student-athlete to earn CSC Academic All-America® accolades, joining men's soccer player Jonathan Stout, women's soccer player Justina Gaynor and men's tennis player Ozan Baris.
Overall, it is the fourth time in MSU baseball history to have Academic All-America in consecutive seasons, joining 1971 (Larry Ike) and 1972 (Jerry Sackman); 1992 and 1993 (Stuart Hirschman and Steve Johnson); 1994 (Steve Money), and the aforementioned 2010 and 2011.
Kark is Michigan State baseball's 16th Academic All-America accolade and the 13th different Spartan baseball player to earn Academic All-American honors.
Additionally, Kark is one of two Academic All-America honorees from the Big Ten Conference, joined by Nebraska pitcher Brett Sears, along with one of two from the state of Michigan, joined by Western Michigan outfielder Dylan Nevar.
Kark posted a 3.92 GPA majoring in strategic communication, is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honoree. He was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award at the Spartan Academic Excellence Gala for highest GPA on the baseball team. He will earn his master's degree in the fall of 2025.
On the field, Kark played in over 180 career games as a Spartan. He tied for seventh in the B1G regular-season overall in doubles (17), tying with teammate Jack Frank. Additionally, Kark was joined by Frank and teammate Randy Seymour as the only three Spartans to start and play in all 51 games. Kark led MSU in RBI (42), while sharing the team lead with Frank for doubles (17), in addition to second in hits (71), tied for second in triples (1), third in slugging percentage (.466), fourth in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in home runs (4) and fifth in average (.324).
Kark advanced to the All-America ballot after earning Academic All-District® accolades in May, one of five Spartans, as he was joined by Harrison Cook, Joseph Dzierwa, Nick Powers and Christian Williams all recognized with 2024 Academic All-District accolades.
With the five Spartans earning Academic All-District accolades in 2024, MSU has now had a total of 29 student-athletes earn Academic All-District honors in program history, including 20 under head coach Jake Boss Jr., along with four Academic All-America accolades in Eckerle in 2010 and 2011, Vradenburg in 2023 and Kark in 2024.
A senior from White Lake, Michigan, Kark's Academic All-America accolade is the second-straight year for a Spartan after Brock Vradenburg was named to the CSC Academic All-America® First-Team last year. This marks the first time MSU baseball has had an Academic All-America honoree in back-to-back seasons since 2010-11, when Brandon Eckerle garnered first-team recognition in 2011 after earning third-team honors in 2011.
To date, Kark is the fourth Michigan State Athletics student-athlete to earn CSC Academic All-America® accolades, joining men's soccer player Jonathan Stout, women's soccer player Justina Gaynor and men's tennis player Ozan Baris.
Overall, it is the fourth time in MSU baseball history to have Academic All-America in consecutive seasons, joining 1971 (Larry Ike) and 1972 (Jerry Sackman); 1992 and 1993 (Stuart Hirschman and Steve Johnson); 1994 (Steve Money), and the aforementioned 2010 and 2011.
Kark is Michigan State baseball's 16th Academic All-America accolade and the 13th different Spartan baseball player to earn Academic All-American honors.
Additionally, Kark is one of two Academic All-America honorees from the Big Ten Conference, joined by Nebraska pitcher Brett Sears, along with one of two from the state of Michigan, joined by Western Michigan outfielder Dylan Nevar.
Kark posted a 3.92 GPA majoring in strategic communication, is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honoree. He was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award at the Spartan Academic Excellence Gala for highest GPA on the baseball team. He will earn his master's degree in the fall of 2025.
On the field, Kark played in over 180 career games as a Spartan. He tied for seventh in the B1G regular-season overall in doubles (17), tying with teammate Jack Frank. Additionally, Kark was joined by Frank and teammate Randy Seymour as the only three Spartans to start and play in all 51 games. Kark led MSU in RBI (42), while sharing the team lead with Frank for doubles (17), in addition to second in hits (71), tied for second in triples (1), third in slugging percentage (.466), fourth in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in home runs (4) and fifth in average (.324).
Kark advanced to the All-America ballot after earning Academic All-District® accolades in May, one of five Spartans, as he was joined by Harrison Cook, Joseph Dzierwa, Nick Powers and Christian Williams all recognized with 2024 Academic All-District accolades.
With the five Spartans earning Academic All-District accolades in 2024, MSU has now had a total of 29 student-athletes earn Academic All-District honors in program history, including 20 under head coach Jake Boss Jr., along with four Academic All-America accolades in Eckerle in 2010 and 2011, Vradenburg in 2023 and Kark in 2024.
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