Augsburg's Darren Ginther named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division Baseball Team

MINNEAPOLIS (5/31/05) -- Augsburg College baseball player Darren Ginther (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball College Division First Team, as selected by CoSIDA, it was announced on Tuesday.

Ginther is a secondary education/social studies major with a 3.81 grade-point average. He is Augsburg's first-ever Academic All-America honoree from baseball, the 14th Academic All-American in school history, the first Auggie selected since 2001 and the first Auggie to earn first-team honors since wrestler Josh Cagle was named to the Academic All-America men's at-large first team in 2000.

The award caps a year of honors for Ginther, a third baseman/pitcher for the Auggies. Earlier this month, he was named to the Academic All-District V team for baseball, in addition to earning All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as well as American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Midwest Region second-team honors.

Ginther transferred to Augsburg last year after playing his freshman campaign at Division I Valparaiso (Ind.). He finished as one of the top hitters in the MIAC this year, with a .413 average, to go with team highs in hits (59), runs (35), extra-base hits (17), slugging percentage (.608) and on-base percentage (.494), with 19 multiple-hit games. He was Augsburg's fourth .400 hitter since 1988. He finished the regular season with eight doubles, seven triples and two homers.

As Augsburg's No. 2 starting pitcher, Ginther finished with a 4.10 ERA and 6-3 record in 12 starts, including a dramatic three-hit, nine-inning, complete-game performance in a 2-1 Augsburg win over St. Olaf in the MIAC playoffs on May 13, and a second three-hitter against the Oles, in a regular-season shutout 1-0 win on April 2.

In MIAC play, Ginther hit .433 -- the third-best batting average in MIAC games -- to go with 14 RBI, a .612 slugging percentage (12th in the MIAC) and a .500 on-base percentage (fourth in the MIAC). He had a 4-3 record and 4.28 ERA in eight MIAC pitching starts. Ginther is hitting .395 in his two seasons at Augsburg, with 103 hits, 73 runs scored, 53 RBI, a .586 slugging percentage and a .482 on-base percentage. In his pitching career (21 appearances, 20 starts), he has a 4.23 ERA with 67 strikeouts and a .256 opponent batting average.

Ginther was a leader of one of the most successful baseball squads at Augsburg in the last two decades. On a team with only two seniors on the roster, Augsburg finished the 2005 campaign with a 24-18 overall record (12-8 MIAC), finishing second in its first-ever trip to the MIAC postseason playoffs. The Auggies' 24 wins mark just the third 20-win campaign for the squad since 1992, and the most wins for the Auggies in a single season since their last MIAC regular-season title campaign of 1987 (31-10).

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program is administered by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Top student-athletes from non-Division I programs, who have already earned Academic All-District first-team honors, are eligible for inclusion on the team. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average above 3.20 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials. The Academic All-America ballot is voted on by a committee of CoSIDA members.

Two other MIAC baseball players joined Ginther on the Academic All-America squad. Also on the first team is infielder Ben Sherer of Gustavus Adolphus, while infielder Chris Bell of St. John's earned second-team honors.