Luzar, Hadzinsky selected to Academic All-District Team

ORANGE, Calif. – Senior IF Matt Luzar and sophomore IF Tyler Hadzinsky have been named to the 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine All-District VIII Baseball First Team as announced by the Academic All-America® Committee.

This is the first such honor for Luzar who carries a 3.42 grade-point average in accounting and fourth for Hadzinsky, a business major with a 3.88 grade-point average. Hadzinsky has been selected to the All-District VII baseball team twice now, also earning the award twice for his efforts as the starting goalie on the men’s soccer team.

In addition to their academic excellence, both student-athletes have played an important role in the Panthers’ success this spring as the baseball team is currently the top-ranked squad in the West Region as the regular season comes to a close this weekend with a three-game series against the University of Redlands. Both Luzar and Hadzinsky have started in each of the Panthers’ 36 games so far in 2010. Luzar leads the team in batting average (.403), home runs (12), RBI (49), slugging percentage (.715) and fielding percentage (1.000) while Hadzinsky ranks second in homers (5) and third in hits (45), runs scored (34) and RBI (32).

Luzar is just two home runs shy of tying Chapman’s Division III single-season record of 14 set by Mike Vass in 2008.

Since both players were named to the Academic All-District VII First Team, they will now be placed on the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration. The ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 on a scale of 4.0, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

Chapman is a member of the District VIII College Division, which includes Division II, III and NAIA schools from throughout the Western United States.

For a complete list of the teams from all eight districts, please click here.

by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant