CoSIDA Academic All-America® Baseball Release
Michael Thomas, The College of Wooster baseball team's starting catcher, was voted a second-team College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American®, as announced by the national organization on Wednesday afternoon. Thomas is Wooster's fifth Academic All-American® for the 2021-22 academic year, giving the Fighting Scots a new single-year record, while it is the third straight season a baseball student-athlete has been voted to the prestigious team.
"Michael has been an exceptional student-athlete every year at Wooster, putting in extra time in the economics department and the baseball diamond," shared head coach Barry Craddock. "I am very proud that he has earned this recognition for all of his hard work."
Thomas hit .284 (42-for-148) for Wooster, which went 35-17 this spring, won its eighth regional title, and advanced to the NCAA Div. III Super Regional. The senior tallied 49 runs, 34 RBI, nine home runs, six doubles, and three triples. His .446 on-base percentage ranked second on the team and was bolstered by 23 walks and 22 hit by pitches. Thomas was a fuel-driving spark during Wooster's postseason run, batting .333 (9-for-27) with 12 RBI, 10 runs, and three round-trippers spanning the program's eight NCAA games. He went 2-for-4 with a pair of three-run home runs during a 21-3 win over Crown College (Minnesota) and had a four-RBI game against Bethel University (Minnesota), during which he hit his third three-run homer of the Alton Regional. Defensively, Thomas sported a .991 fielding percentage this year with three errors in 334 chances. He threw out 17-of-54 base stealers.
The economics major from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was an Allen Scholar at Wooster, and examined the relationship between firms that engage in corporate social responsibility by implementing environmental, social, and governance scores and their corporate emissions for his Independent Study. Thomas was motivated to explore "a private policy approach to mitigating the effects of climate change" as part of his I.S.
During his time at the College, Thomas was an APEX Fellow, working with Seattle CityClub. There, Thomas managed data for state-level debates, conducted research for the housing coalition, and conducted research targeted at improving business quality. He also gathered and analyzed data for future shelter locations with Simpson Housing Services in Minnesota. He is planning to enter the business world in his hometown of Minneapolis.
Thomas is Wooster's 57th CoSIDA Academic All-American®, and he joins senior women's soccer defender Alexa Bencic, junior football placekicker Lake Barrett, senior volleyball middle hitter Katie Billetdeaux, and senior volleyball setter Syd Case as honorees for this academic year. Wooster previously had four Academic All-Americans® for the 2006-07, 2011-12, and 2015-16 academic years. Baseball All-American alumni Harry Witwer-Dukes and Tyler Chumita were voted Academic All-Americans® following the 2020 and 2021 seasons, respectively, giving the program a stretch of three straight years with at least one American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and a CoSIDA Academic All-American®. Baseball student-athletes have earned seven of Wooster's 57 Academic All-America® honors, and that total is tied with women's soccer for the second-most by a sport at the College.