<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>The honors for senior

catcher Matt Rice keep coming in.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Rice was named the Capital

One All-American of the Year on Tuesday by the College Sports

Information Directors of America.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Rice is no stranger to

Capital One All-American honors. He was a second team Capital One

Academic All-American as a junior and was named to the third team

as a sophomore.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>The teams are broken up into

the “University Division” and “College Division,” with WKU being in

the University Division.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Of the 33 players selected

to the University Division’s Academic All-America team, Rice was

the only catcher to be named to the first team.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Rice joins Jack Glasser,

Erick Rossa, Matt Payton and Matt Ridings as Toppers who were all

named Academic All-Americans.

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Earlier this season, Rice

set the WKU records for both hits in a career (308) and runs batted

in (215).

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Four Toppers named

to all-Sun Belt teams, Hageman named Freshman of the

Year

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>Rice wasn’t the only Topper

getting honored on Tuesday.

Rice was named

a first team all-Sun Belt selection, but so too were teammates

junior outfielder Kes Carter and sophomore pitcher Tanner

Perkins.

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“mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal;”>

Junior outfielder

Jared Andreoli was named to the second team, while freshman Justin

Hageman was named Freshman of the Year.

<p class="MsoNormal" style=

“mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal;”>

It’s the second

straight year that Rice and Carter were named to the first team and

the first for both Perkins and Andreoli.

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“mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal;”>

Hageman is the first

Topper to be named Freshman of the Year since Chad Cregar won it in

2008. 

<span style=

“font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;”>The fourth-seeded Toppers

will begin Sun Belt Conference Tournament play 11 a.m. Wednesday

with a first round matchup against fifth-seeded Florida

Atlantic.