Wednesday, June 5, 2019

AUSTIN, Texas – Capping a season that saw him play a key role in Montana State Billings’ run to the GNAC championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Championship, senior outfielder Matt Dillon has been named to the Google Cloud/CoSIDA Division II Academic All-America Baseball Team.

Carrying a 3.72 cumulative grade point average as a health administration major, Dillon is the only GNAC player named to the Academic All-America Team and one of just two West Region players elected to the squad.

Dillon is just the second baseball Academic All-American in conference history and the first since Western Oregon’s Bryce Gardinier was elected to the team in 2003.

A First Team All-GNAC selection as an outfielder, Dillon was also named a Second Team All-West Region selection by both the D2CCA and NCBWA. Dillon finished the season second in the GNAC with 15 home runs with 13 doubles and 42 runs batted in. The senior ranked second in the GNAC with a .647 slugging percentage while also finished with a .287 batting average and a .413 on-base percentage.

Dillon started 49 games for the Yellowjackets, scoring 50 runs and drawing a team-high 29 walks. Dillon’s 19 career home runs are fifth-best in MSUB history and his career slugging percentage of .476 was 10th best in school history.

Montana State Billings finished with a 33-20 overall record and captured the GNAC regular-season championship with a 30-10 mark. The Yellowjackets won the GNAC Championships to earn the conference’s first-ever berth to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, eventually being eliminated by West Region champion UC San Diego.

Nominated by and voted upon by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the Google Cloud Academic All-District and All-America programs recognize student-athletes who demonstrate excellence both on the field and in the classroom. Nominees must be of sophomore standing or higher, be a starter or important reserve on their team and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or greater. Players considered for the Academic All-America team must first be selected a First Team Academic All-District selection.