Belfonte Named First-Team Academic All-America

Lincoln - Nebraska baseball player DJ Belfonte was honored Tuesday, as he was named a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® honoree, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

It marked the first time that Belfonte has received the national honor and the first time since 2006 that a Husker baseball player was a first-team Academic All-America selection. He is the sixth Husker baseball player to be a first-team honoree, joining Erik Mumm (1999), John Cole (2001), Jeff Leise (2002-03), Aaron Marsden (2002) and Brandon Buckman (2006).

The Kansas City, Mo., native was the only Big 12 student-athlete on the 11-member first team and raises Nebraska all-time Academic All-America total in baseball to 18. Nebraska continues to lead the nation with 272 CoSIDA Academic All-America picks.

A four-year starter in the Husker outfield, Belfonte graduated earlier this month with a 3.72 GPA in finance, and was a three-time first-team academic All-Big 12 selection. He was a two-time Academic All-District VII (2008 and 2010) and was a finalist for UNL Male Student-Athlete of the Year in 2010.

On the diamond, Belfonte finished his career ranking on Nebraska's career top-10 list in games played (220, ninth), hits (238, 10th), doubles (44, 10th) and hit-by-pitches (59, 2nd). He put together his best season in 2010, hitting .376 with seven homers, 37 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Belfonte finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in three categories, including seventh in batting average, sixth in hits (82) and 10th in total bases (122) and became only the second player in school history to lead the Huskers in stolen bases for three consecutive seasons.