2023 CSC Academic All-America Teams

AUSTIN, Texas – Colorado School of Mines Baseball outfielder Garret Nielsen was named First-Team Academic All-America by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) after an outstanding season on the field and in the classroom.
 
Nielsen's nod to the College Sports Communicators' (CSC) top team comes in his final year as a student-athlete and is the first such honor of his career. Mines baseball now boasts a First-Team Academic All-American in back-to-back seasons. The program boasts a total of 15 Academic All-Americans in program history including 13 since the 2013-14 season. Eight of those 13 honorees, including Nielsen were named to the first team including Nate Olinger (2015, 2016), Joe Popp (2018, 2019), Derek Daly (2020), Walter Pennington (2020), and Luke Folsom (2022).
 
The 2023 Mines graduate was one of three first-team members from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while the South Central Region had a total of four on the top squad. Overall, the RMAC had five CSC Academic All-Americans hailing from Mines, Colorado Mesa, Regis, and MSU Denver. Lubbock Christian and UT Tyler combined for three representatives to give the South Central Region eight total selections.
 
Nielsen earned the prestigious honor thanks to a 3.88 grade-point average (GPA) as a graduate student in the Orediggers' engineering & technology management program. He also earned a 3.61 GPA as an undergraduate student in business at the University of California at Berkeley. The California native was voted to the first team by college sports communications professionals from across the country after earning CSC Academic All-District Distinction last month. The minimum requirements for all-district and all-America included a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 in all majors as a sophomore or above while being a starter or significant contributor for their team. Additional academic awards for Nielsen include CSC Academic All-District and recoginition on the Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll. 
 
On the field, Nielsen put together an impressive resume in his lone season as an Oredigger. He transferred to Mines from UC-Berkeley for his final season of collegiate baseball, joining his brother Trent Nielsen who came to the Orediggers after redshirting at San Jose State. The elder Nielsen put together a swan song featuring a .392 batting average with 42 runs on 62 hits including 19 doubles and 14 home runs with 61 RBI. He walked 26 times, was hit by five pitches, stole five bases and sacrificed himself on six occasions. Nielsen's doubles, home runs, total bases, RBI, and .778 slugging percentage all ranked top-10 in a single season in program history. He also led the RMAC in 2023 in slugging percentage while sitting #8 in RBI, #9 in home runs, and #10 in doubles. Nationally, Nielsen was #13 in NCAA Division II in slugging percentage for the season, #17 in RBI per game, #22 in doubles per game, and #38 in home runs per game. He was voted RMAC Player of the Week on March 14 as well.
 
The CoSIDA Academic All-America teams mark the end of the 2023 awards season for Orediggers baseball. Head Coach Robby Bales will announce his signing class in the coming weeks which will also be released at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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