Complete Capital One Academic All-District Baseball Teams

DAVIS, Calif. -- UC Davis senior outfielder John Williams was one of 11 players named to the 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District 8 Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced on Thursday.

Williams, a managerial economics major, becomes the first Aggie baseball player named to the team since Eric Johnson in 2011, and advances to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second-, and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.

The senior from Los Gatos, Calif., is one of two Big West student-athletes to be honored, joining Cal Poly's Tommy Pluschkell -- the older brother of UC Davis freshman infielder, Brad Pluschkell.

Already a two-time Big West All-Academic Team selection as a sophomore and a junior, Williams is in the midst of his finest offensive season as an Aggie, batting a career-best .304 with nine doubles, 13 runs scored, and 17 RBI, heading into this weekend's Big West series against CSUN at Dobbins Stadium.

He has appeared in 45 of the team's 47 contests, making 36 starts, while setting career high's in doubles and stolen bases, swiping 13-of-15 on the season -- one more than the 12 bases he stole over his previous three seasons combined. Williams ranks fourth on the team in average while posting a perfect record in the outfield, going errorless in 97 chances thus far.

He has 11 multi-hit games to his name and has driven in multiple runs on four occasions, posting a nine-game hitting streak from April 18-May 2 and reaching base safely in 15 consecutive games at one point this year. Williams set a season high with three hits in games one and three of UC Davis' league series against UC Riverside, a weekend that saw him bat .500 with five runs scored, three doubles, and three runs driven in .

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, 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 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

UC Davis and CSUN square off in the opener of their three-game series on Friday (May 8) at 2:30 p.m. at Dobbins Stadium. The series continues with games two and three on Saturday (May 9) and Sunday (May 10) at 1 p.m. each day.

2014-15 CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT 8 BASEBALL TEAM
P - Ryan Burr, Arizona State (Jr., Highlands Ranch, Colo., 3.60, criminal justice & criminology)
P - Andrew Moore, Oregon State (Jr., Eugene, Ore., 3.32, digital communication arts)
C - Aaron Barnett, Pepperdine (So., Mission Viejo, Calif., 3.71, economics)
IF - Tommy Edman, Stanford (So., San Diego, Calif., 3.83, math/computational science)
IF - Mitchell Gunsolus, Gonzaga (Sr., Kenmore, Wash., 3.45, business)
IF - Tommy Pluschkell, Cal Poly (Sr., Pleasanton, Calif., 3.80, general engineering)
IF - Dillon Robinson, BYU (Sr., Pleasant Grove, Utah, 3.58, finance)
OF - Taylor Tempel, Fresno State (Sr., Clovis, Calif., 3.53, business administration/sports marketing)
OF - John Williams, UC Davis (Sr., Los Gatos, Calif., 3.75, managerial economics)
OF - Ben Wylly, San Diego (Jr., Irvine, Calif., 3.95, political science)
DH - Josh Cushing, Washington (Jr., Moraga, Calif., 3.47, business administration)