Senior outfielder Ian Cleary makes program history with College Sports Communicators Third Team Academic All-American selection

GREENWOOD, Ind. – Unveiled at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, Oakland Golden Grizzlies senior outfielder Ian Cleary was among 35 student-athletes from 14 different conferences to be recognized as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Division I Academic All-American.

The lone Horizon League representative, Cleary was selected as a Third Team Academic All-American, a 12-man group that also includes Arizona State Sun Devils sophomore catcher Ryan Campos and Tennessee Volunteers junior right-hander Chase Dollander, among others.

Founded in 1957 and known as CoSIDA until their 2022 name change, CSC is America’s premier awards program for combined intercollegiate academic and athletic excellence, and a link to the organization’s official release is available here.

An achievement that only a select few ever reach, Cleary’s Academic All-American selection is Oakland’s first since the Golden Grizzlies transitioned to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level in 1998.

A fellow Third Team honoree, Tom Perkins is the only other player in program history to receive this distinction, doing so in 1989 when Oakland, whose athletic teams were then known as the Pioneers, was a member of the Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

Graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences in April, Cleary held a perfect 4.0 GPA until his final semester and walked with a still spectacular 3.99.

Standing out among all Oakland University student-athletes, he was recognized with the Black and Gold Men’s Top Academic Award on April 17.

“While all accolades are great for the program and I get excited every time one of our guys receives an honor, this one really stands out above the rest,” said head coach Jordon Banfield.

“Any time you talk about being an All-American, you’re talking about the absolute cream of the crop in our country. When it’s the first time in D-I program history, that stands out even more and I couldn’t think of a better representative of what we’re doing than Ian Cleary.

“He’s made himself into an offensive force and continues to excel in the classroom as he prepares for med school in a year. Until then, I look forward to him leading the program as we continue to work toward our goal of another first: bringing OU a championship.”

Initially joining the club as a walk-on after graduating from Utica Henry Ford II High School in 2019, Cleary’s story is an All-American tale of quietly working his way up and carving out a larger role for himself each season, culminating in a Second Team All-Horizon League selection here in 2023 after he slashed .306/.406/.456 with a team-leading 63 hits and 41 RBI.

Registering 16 multiple-hit games this season, including five three-knock performances, Cleary was also named to the 2023 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team after tallying three hits, four RBI and a trio of runs in the Golden Grizzlies’ four contests.

A full list of all 2023 NCAA Division I CSC Academic All-Americans is provided below:



2023 NCAA Division I CSC Academic All-Americans

First Team

Position	Name	School	GPA	Class	Major
P	Rhett Lowder	Wake Forest	3.5	Junior	Economics
P	Jesse Barker	Central Arkansas	4.0	Senior	General Science
C	Lucas McNew	Southern Indiana	4.0/3.81	Graduate Student	Management (Undergrad) / Business Administration (Graduate)
IF	JJ Wetherholt	West Virginia	3.87	Sophomore	Finance
IF	Dylan Ditzenberger	New Mexico	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Liberal Arts
IF	Brock Vradenburg	Michigan State	3.74	Junior	Advertising Management
IF	Nolan Schanuel	Florida Atlantic	3.61	Junior	Pre-Business
IF	Jake Gelof (First Team in 2022)	Virginia	3.54	Junior	Media Studies
OF	Angelo Dispigna	Georgia Tech	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Business Administration
OF	RJ Schreck	Vanderbilt	3.76/4.0	Graduate Student	Computer Science (Undergrad) / Human Dev. Studies (Graduate)
OF	Jake DeLeo	Georgia Tech	3.91	Junior	Business Administration
DH	Jacob McKeon (Second Team in 2022)	Washington State	3.95	Senior	Kinesiology

 
Second Team

Position	Name	School	GPA	Class	Major
P	Ben Ferrer	Oregon State	4.0/3.66	Graduate Student	Economics & Finance (Undergrad) / Corporate Finance & Business Analytics (Graduate)
P	Simon Miller	UTSA	3.6	Junior	Cyber Intelligence
C	Kyle Gurney (First Team in 2022)	Bowling Green	3.91	Senior	Business Analytics & Intelligence
C	Calvin Harris	Ole Miss	3.54	Junior	Entrepreneurship
IF	Owen Cobb	Stanford	3.87	Senior	Management Science & Engineering
IF	Ryan Galanie (Third Team in 2022)	Wofford	3.8	Senior	Computer Science & Spanish
IF	Carter Graham	Stanford	3.58	Junior	Science, Technology & Society
OF	Jared Wegner	Arkansas	3.5/3.8	Graduate Student	Mgmt. Social Enterprise & Marketing (Undergrad) / Operations Mgmt. (Graduate)
OF	Jackson Gray	Kentucky	3.8/3.8	Graduate Student	Finance
OF	Homer Bush Jr.	Grand Canyon	3.92	Junior	Sports Management
DH	Jeremiah Boyd	Middle Tennessee	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Sports Management

 
Third Team

Position	Name	School	GPA	Class	Major
P	John Bakke (Third Team in 2022)	Morehead State	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Sports Management
P	Chase Dollander	Tennessee	3.78	Junior	Recreation & Sports Management
P	Jonathan Fincher (Second Team in 2022 and Third Team in 2021)	Louisiana Tech	3.92	Senior	Biology/Kinesiology & Health Sciences
C	Ryan Campos	Arizona State	3.58	Sophomore	Liberal Studies
IF	John Giesler	Georgia Tech	4.0	Junior	Business Administration
IF	Riley Cheek	Queens University of Charlotte	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Business
IF	Travis Bazzana	Oregon State	3.55	Sophomore	Psychology
IF	William Sullivan	Troy	3.73	Senior	Exercise Science
OF	Ian Cleary	Oakland	4.0	Senior	Biomedical Sciences
OF	Nick Brassington (Third Team in 2022)	Queens University of Charlotte	4.0/4.0	Graduate Student	Business
OF	Eddie Park	Stanford	3.68	Junior	Management Science & Engineering
DH	Slade Wilks	Southern Mississippi	3.52	Junior	Business Administration