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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Joplin, Mo. - Missouri Southern senior center fielder Juan Hernandez has been named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District team as voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America. Hernandez was named to the college division, second-team in District 7. That district consists of NCAA Division II, III, NAIA and junior college schools from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wyoming and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. To be eligible for the honor, a player must maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA. Freshman and first-year transfers are not eligible. Hernandez has served as a team captain this year and has helped lead the resurgence of the Lions program that has seen a 15-game turnaround from a season prior. He is hitting .346 this season with a homer and is tied for fourth on the team with 38 RBIs. He has been 13-16 on the base paths and has been nearly flawless in the field, sporting a .989 fielding percentage. He has started in all but two games this season and is third on the team with 62 hits and fourth with 11 doubles. After a slow start to the season that saw Hernandez hitting just .231 after the first 12 games of the season. He caught on fire once conference play started and from that point on, Juan has hit .356 and is fourth on the team with 42 hits in 34 games. He is a perfect 11-11 in stolen bases in conference play and is flawless in the outfield with no errors in 56 chances. Hernandez and the Lions open up MIAA Tournament play tomorrow at noon as Southern takes on 11th ranked Central Missouri in the opening round of the 2009 MIAA Baseball Tournament at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. |