May 29, 2007
Notre Dame junior shortstop Brett Lilley – who has compiled a 3.95 grade-point average over the course of the past three semesters (all while taking an advanced load, with 60 total credits in that span) – has been named an ESPN The Magazine first team Academic All-American, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The three-time all-BIG EAST Conference performer is on pace to graduate early from Notre Dame, following the 2007 fall semester, and plans to begin studies on his master’s in accounting during the 2008 spring semester, when he should be a leading candidate for Academic All-America of the Year honors. Lilley’s 3.81 cumulative GPA as an accounting major includes a 3.95 in-season mark during the 2007 spring semester (despite a 21-credit load) while his past three semesters at Notre Dame have included 19 A grades and two B-pluses among his 21 total classes (dating back to the ’06 spring term).
Lilley came just shy of leading the Irish in batting for the second time in his career but still will enter the 2008 season with the second-best career on-base pct. (.484) in Notre Dame baseball history.
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Lilley’s first six semesters at Notre Dame have seen him receive 25 A grades, five A-minuses, four B-pluses, one B and a B-minus among his 36 total classes. As a sophomore, he took an accelerated 18-credit load during the season but posted a perfect 4.0 GPA during that 2006 spring semester. He returned in the fall of ’06 facing a 21-credit load and nearly duplicated the 4.0, but a B-plus left him with a 3.91. Similar academic success waited in the recently completed 2007 spring semester, as a B-plus in a 1.5-credit course (strategic management) was all that kept Lilley from another 4.0 (3.95) despite taking 21 credits during the in-season semester.
After taking a couple weeks off from his rigorous academic load, Lilley (North Canton, Ohio) already is back at Notre Dame to begin summer school and will take three classes in the summer session: social psychology, seminar on European union, and managerial economics. He then will be only 17 credits shy of completing his degree requirements but intends to take 19 credits in the 2007 fall semester – before enrolling in graduate school at Notre Dame for the 2008 spring semester, in pursuit of a master’s of science in accountancy. Lilley then likely would return to Notre Dame sometime in 2007 or ’08 to complete that accelerated one-year master’s program.
Lilley – whose older sister Tricia Lilley was a third team Academic All-America shortstop at Purdue in 2006 – was one of five juniors named to the prestigious first team Academic All-America listing for Division I baseball, with the other seven first-teamers being seniors. Notre Dame sophomore pitcher David Phelps also was on the Academic All-America ballot, after carrying a 3.36 cumulative GPA into the 2007 season (as a double major in political science and computer applications). Phelps faced tough odds to make the Academic All-America team, which ultimately included only two sophomores among the 33 total honorees. He should join Lilley among the top candidates in 2008, as a maximum of only 15 of the 2007 Academic All-Americans could return for next season (pending those who may depart early for a pro career).
Notre Dame senior catcher Sean Gaston also could be a leading Academic All-America candidate in 2008, when he plans to return for a fifth year of eligibility after missing the 2007 season due to a shoulder injury. Gaston will enter the 2007 fall semester with a 3.40 cumulative GPA, as a double major in history and political science.
Lilley is on pace to graduate from Notre Dame a semester early and should be among the lead candidates for 2008 Academic All-American of the Year.
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Gaston and Lilley were among 14 Notre Dame baseball players who posted a GPA of 3.0 or higher during the 2007 spring semester, with the 35 players combining to nearly average a 3.0 team GPA (2.97).
Lilley’s honor marks the 11th time this decade (since 2000) that a Notre Dame baseball player has received Academic All-America recognition. The Notre Dame baseball program now has seen 18 different players combine for 24 Academic All-America awards (since 1977), with Lilley becoming the 10th different Irish baseball player to be a first team Academic All-American. Others from that elite first-team group have included catcher Tim Pollock (’77), infielders Dave Bartish (’80) and Cory Mee (’92), third baseman James Dee (’84), outfielder John Loughran (’86), first baseman Joe Binkiewicz (’92), second baseman Jeff Perconte (2000) and Steve Sollmann (’04), and lefthanded pitcher Mike Naumann (’01).
Phelps would have been just the third Notre Dame sophomore ever named to the Academic All-America baseball teams, as Dan Peltier was a third-team selection in 1988 while fellow outfielder Brian Stavisky was a third-teamer in 2001. Lilley in 2008 will have the chance to become the seventh Irish baseball player ever to repeat as an Academic All-American (the six who have done so include Loughran, Peltier, Binkiewicz, Naumann, Stavisky and Sollmann).
Lilley has started all 176 games of his college career and could finish among the top-5 of several Notre Dame career categories.
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The BIG EAST Conference joined the Sun Belt as the nation’s only conferences with first-team selections from different teams, as St. John’s junior infielder Jeff Grantham (3.98 cumulative GPA; physics) was among the 12 players on the elite first team. Lilley and Grantham should be on the short list of favorites for 2008 Academic All-American of the Year, as should the three other juniors – all business administration majors – on the 2007 first team (assuming they return in ’08): Oregon State catcher Mitch Canham (3.53), Southern Mississippi infielder Trey Sutton (3.75) and University of the Pacific infielder Justin Baum (3.79).
Lilley led Notre Dame in 12 different statistical categories during the 2007 season while ranking second on the team in four other stats. Pending any shifting among stat leaders during NCAA Tournament play, Lilley posted a .512 season on-base percentage that currently ranks 12th among all Division I players and is second-best by a Notre Dame player since the early 1990s (7th-best overall in the ND record book). His 2007 offensive totals included 73 hits (tied for the team lead), a team-best 31 walks and a hit-by-pitch total (27) that ranks third in the nation. Lilley currently ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in seven different categories, including first in on-base pct. and HBPs, fifth in triples (3), seventh in batting average (.371), eighth in runs scored (55), 10th in fielding assists (159) and 11th in walks.
In addition to SJU’s Grantham, three other players from Notre Dame’s 2007 opponents were among the 33 Academic All-Americans: Texas State senior pitcher Justin Fiske (1st team; 3.92; exercise and sports science), Toledo junior infielder Scott Boley (2nd team; 3.97; finance) and Central Michigan junior outfielder Tyler Stovall (2nd team; 3.84; personal financial planning). The only sophomores to receive Academic All-America honors were Texas infielder Bradley Suttle second team (2nd team; 3.54; business) and Minnesota outfielder Matt Nohelty (3rd team; 4.00; computer science).
ND BASEBALL ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA HISTORY – The Notre Dame baseball program now has seen 18 different players combine for 24 Academic All-America awards (since 1977) … in addition to Lilley and 2006 shortstop Greg Lopez (3rd team), nine other infielders have combined to receive the elite honor 11 times: Bartish (1st team in ’80), 1B Henry Valenzuela (3rd team in ’82) and Binkiewicz (3rd team in ’91, 1st team in ’92), Dee (1st team in ’84) and fellow 3B Rich Vanthournout (2nd team in ’86) and Andrew Bushey (2nd team in ’02), utility infielders Mee (1st team in ’92) and Perconte (1st team in 2000), and Sollmann (2nd team in ’03, 1st team in ’04).
Lilley – who played primarily third base prior to this season – follows Greg Lopez as the second straight Notre Dame shortstop to earn Academic All-America honors.
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LOPEZ AND LILLEY ROUND OUT ACADEMIC ELITE FANTASY TEAM – The additions of shortstops Lopez and Lilley over the past two seasons gives the Notre Dame baseball program an Academic All-America “dream team” – with one possible lineup including catcher Pollock (1st team in ’77), an infield comprised of 1B Binkiewicz (or Valenzuela), 2B Sollmann, Lopez or Lilley at SS, and 3B Bushey, plus an outfield featuring two-time recipients Peltier (3rd team in ’88, 2nd team in ’89), Loughran (1st team in ’86, 2nd team in ’87) and Stavisky (3rd team in ’01 and ’02) … righthander Erik Madsen (3rd team in ’88) and LHP Mark Clementz (2nd team in ’84) would serve as the starting pitchers on this academically-gifted fantasy team, with lefthander Naumann (1st team in ’01) coming in for middle relief while J.P. Gagne (3rd team in ’03) would be the closer (Bartish, Vanthournout, Mee and Perconte would provide tremendous utility depth in the infield).
DECADE DOMINANCE – The Irish baseball program earlier this decade produced an unmatched four-year run of multiple Academic All-Americans that began in 2000 with Perconte (1st team) and Naumann (3rd team), followed by Naumann (1st team) and Stavisky (3rd team) in ’01, then Stavisky (3rd team) and Bushey (2nd team) in ’02 and finally Sollmann (2nd team) and Gagne (3rd team) in ’03 … Sollmann then was a 1st-teamer in 2004, with Lopez and Lilley becoming the program’s 10th and 11th honorees of the decade.
SUPER SENIORS – The six-member senior class combined for a 3.41 semester GPA, with each member of the class at 2.9 or higher for the 2007 spring term … among the five players who were healthy in the 2007 season, three posted a semester GPA above 3.4: 1B/LHP Mike Dury (3.67; economics/computer applications), CF Danny Dressman (3.47; history/computer applications) and RHP Dan Kapala (3.46; economics) … RHPs Jess Stewart (finance) and John Seabaugh (history/pre-professional studies) also topped the 2.9 GPA mark in their final semester at Notre Dame … Gaston, who could return in ’08 (as could Kapala), graduated with the highest cumulative GPA in the class (3.40), followed by Dury’s 3.19 and Kapala (3.06) … the six seniors graduated with a combined cumulative GPA of 3.05 while extending the program’s perfect graduation mark during the past 13 years (77-of-77 players who have completed their four years of eligibility).
TEAMING WITH SCHOLARS – The Notre Dame baseball program’s 2.98 team GPA in the 2007 spring semester included 14 of the 35 players posting a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher, led by nine with a GPA of 3.4-plus and four who topped the 3.6 mark … in addition to those mentioned previously in this release, other 2007 semester GPAs of note included the freshman trio of IF Dylan Blake (3.87), OF Brayden Ashdown (3.53) and IF Herman Petzold (3.46), plus junior LHP Wade Korpi (3.44; anthropology) … note that all ND freshman are enrolled in the First Year of Studies … the 14 players who turned in a GPA of 3.0-plus in the 2006 spring semester included four seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen … in addition to Lilley and Korpi, the other juniors who posted a 3.0-plus in the 2007 spring term include RHP/OF Tony Langford (3.25; marketing) and catcher Chris Soriano (3.13; pre-professional) … Phelps (3.00) and LHP Sam Elam (3.13; anthropology/computer applications) were the sophomores with a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher, as was freshman RHP Eric Maust (3.27) … in addition to Gaston, Dury and Kapala, 12 other ND players ended the 2007 spring semester with a cumulative GPA above 3.0: Blake (3.67), Ashdown (3.60), Petzold (3.41), Soriano (3.29), Korpi (3.27), Maust (3.27), Phelps (3.26), sophomore 1B Evan Sharpley (3.15; business), grad.-student catcher Matt Weglarz (3.10; MBA), junior LF Ross Brezovsky (3.10; economics/computer applications), sophomore 2B Jeremy Barnes (3.05; anthropology) and freshman IF Will Harford (3.03).
Lilley has totaled 84 more “free passes” (91 walks plus 78 HBPs) than strikeouts (85) in his Notre Dame career.
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Brett Lilley UPDATED BIO CAPSULE (SS; Jr.; North Canton, OH; 3.78 cumulative GPA/accounting major) – Heads into the 2007 summer session at Notre Dame on the heels of posting a 3.95 GPA in the 2007 spring semester (21 credits), after turning in a 3.91 in the 2006 fall term (18 credits) and a 4.0 in-season GPA during the spring of ’06 (4.0) … his 36 classes in his first six semesters at ND have produced 25 As, five A-minuses, four B-pluses, a B and a “lowly” B-minus … followed his old sister Tricia (a former softball shortstop at Purdue) as the second Academic All-American in their family … leads the BIG EAST and ranks among the 2007 national leaders (12th) with a .512 season on-base pct., comprised of 73 hits, 31 walks and 27 times hit-by-pitch (3rd-most in the nation) … started all 56 games of the 2007 season in the leadoff spot while reaching base in all but three of those 56 games (ended season with 20 consecutive games on base) … prep shortstop who started ND career at second base and made key midseason switch to third in the middle of ’05 season … played primarily at third in ’06 … made most of his ’07 starts at SS (47; with 9 at 3B as ND experimented with the lineup from Feb. 24-March 11) … has made 43 straight starts at shortstop … currently ranks 7th among BIG EAST players in 2007 season batting avg. (.371), 8th in runs scored (55), 11th in walks (31), 5th in triples (3) and 10th in fielding assists (159) … in 2007 BIG EAST play, he ranked 8th in batting avg. (.367) while owning a league-best .517 on-base pct. in BIG EAST action this season (including a league-leading 12 HBPs, also ranking 6th with 17 walks) … his 78 career HBPs already rank 4th in NCAA D-I history, behind former Florida Atlantic player Gabe Somaribba (81; ’99-’02), former ND teammate Cody Rizzo (84; ’00-’03) and former University of San Francisco player Tony Hurtado (92; ’97-’00) … Creighton’s Robbie Knight (32) and Graham Maiden of the College of Charleston (29) are the only players in the nation with more HBPs this season than Lilley (who had 30 in ’05 and 21 in ’06) … a .349 career batter at Notre Dame who owns a .485 career on-base pct. (2nd-best in ND history, behind the .494 compiled by Eric Danapilis from 1990-93) … has started all 176 games of his ND career, good for the 4th-longest streak of consecutive starts ever by an ND player, behind fellow infielder Brant Ust (179; ’97-’99) and Pat Pesavento (204; ’86-’89) and CF Steve Stanley (256; ’99-’02) … could become the fourth ND player ever to make 230-plus starts (Stanley started 256 while J.J Brock made 238 starts from ’94-’98 and fellow infielder Alec Porzel logged 234 starts from ’98-’01) … his other career stats include 214 hits in 614 at-bats, 3 home runs, 3 triples, 18 doubles, 74 RBI, 150 runs, 91 walks, 78 HBPs, 85 strikeouts, 28 sac. bunts, 19 stolen bases and 438 fielding assists … will enter the 2008 season 33 hits shy of the ND top-10 list and could finish in the top-5 with 66 hits in ’08 … needs to score 37 runs in ’08 to crack that top-10 list (50 runs in ’08 would make him the seventh ND player with 200-plus while 56 would land him in the top-5) … also 20 walks shy of that ND top-10 list while his 28 sac. bunts already are 7th in ND history (three previous ND players had 30 while Lopez and Dressman had 32 and Mee 49) … currently ranks 10th at ND in career assists, needing 124 in ’08 to move into the top-5 … a three-time all-BIG EAST performer (3rd team/rookie of the year in ’05, 2nd team in ’06, 3rd team in `07) … finished 2007 season as the ND leader or co-leader in 12 different categories: on-base pct. (.512), hits (73), runs (55), triples (3), HBPs (27), assists (158), games played (56), starts (56), batting vs. RHPs (.387), leadoff on-base pct. (.489), 2-out batting (.315) and pct. of runners advanced (63%) … also finished 2nd on team in batting avg. (.371), walks (31), batting with runners on (.403) and with men in scoring position (.300), plus 3rd in slugging pct. (.452) and total bases (89) and 5th in doubles (7), stolen bases (5) and batting vs. LHPs (.333) … his other season stats included a home run, 14 RBI, 28 strikeouts and 4 sac. bunts … led 2007 team with a +30 plate-discipline ratio (31 BB + 27 HBP – 28 Ks) that ranks 8th in the ND record book (right behind his +31 in ’05) … will enter 2008 with an impressive +84 career plate-discipline ratio (91 BB+78 HBP-85K) … virtually tied with freshman 3B A.J. Pollock for the team batting lead (both players had 73 hits but Lilley had 197 ABs and Pollock 196) … combined with Pollock (3rd team) to make ND the only BIG EAST team that had both of its leftside infielders receive 2007 all-BIG EAST honors … his 27 HBP in ’07 rank 3rd on the ND single-season list (Rizzo had 28 in ’03) … ranked 2nd on team with 21 multiple-hit games in ’07 … had hits in 41 of the 56 games in 2007 and did not go three straight games without a hit (he had only a pair of 2-game hit “droughts” in all of the ’07 season) … was on base in all but three games of the ’07 season (53 of 56), with an 8-game hit streak being his longest of the ’07 season … nearly became just the fifth ND player in the past 40 years to lead the Irish in batting during multiple seasons (.355, in ’05) … his .512 season on-base pct. in ’07 ranks 7th in ND history and 2nd-best since ’93 (behind Craig Cooper’s .522 in ’06) … the only players in the nation (from nearly 300 D-I programs) with a better on-base pct. than Lilley include: Florida’s Matt Laporta (.582), James Madison’s Kellen Kulbacki (.538), Florida State’s Tony Thomas, Jr. (.537), Yale’s Ryan Lavarnway (.531), Kentucky’s Brian Spear (.525), Purdue’s Ryne White (.521), Wofford’s Brandon Waring (.520), Miami’s Yonder Alonso (.520), Iowa’s Dusty Napoleon (.515), William and Mary’s Greg Sexton (.514) and Clemson’s Brad Chalk (.514) … played error-free in 32 of final 35 games in `07 (4 Es in that span), including a 21-game errorless streak that matched his career-best (set in ’05 at 2B/23B) … has totaled 149 error-free games in his career (51 in ’05, 49 in both ’06 and ’07) … named to the 2007 BIG EAST honor roll in late March, after batting .571 (12-for-21, HR, 2 3B, 4 BB, .907 slugging, .604 on-base) in a five-game stretch that included midweek games with Cleveland State and Western Michigan and the opening series of the BIG EAST season vs. USF … repeated the honor in late April, after reaching base 12 times and factoring into nine different Irish runs during a 3-1 week (April 23-29), as the Irish posted a midweek win over Ball State and took 2-of-3 at league leader Rutgers … hit 4-for-9 in that four-game stretch (4 RBI, 5 R, 2B, 3 BB, 5 HBP, sac. fly; extended errorless streak to 21 games) … scored 5 runs in midseason game vs. Western Michigan (4-for-5, 2 RBI, 3B, BB; March 21) … joined former SS/3B Matt Macri (’02-’04) as only ND players ever to have 5 hits in one game and score 5 runs in another (Lilley went 5-for-5 in the 2005 home opener vs. Cincinnati) … played lead role in 16-6 win over #7 Nebraska (4-for-5, RBI, 2 R, 3B) … reached base five times and factored into seven of ND’s runs, as the Irish posted a big 15-3 win in the series opener at Rutgers (2-for-2, 3 BB, 4 RBI, 3 R, 2B) … also reached base five times in the series finale at Louisville (2-for-3, 2 BB, reached on error; 7-3 loss) … has 12 career games with multiple HBPs (six times in ’07), including 4 HBPs in a game at Central Florida early in the 2005 season and 3 HBPs earlier this season vs. Ball State.