May 10, 2007

HOUSTON - University of Houston senior first baseman Josh Stirneman was rewarded for his work in the classroom Thursday after being named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 6 First Team.

Stirneman currently ranks second among all Cougar sluggers with a .317 batting average, five home runs and 35 RBIs. The Cuero native is hitting even better in C-USA games only with a .338 batting average.

He set career bests with four runs and four hits against Princeton during the middle game of that series and tied another career long with an eight-game hitting streak earlier in the season.

However, Stirneman also was an award-winning student-athlete in the classroom. A business major with a 3.85 cumulative grade point average, he is a two-time recipient of the Conference USA Academic Medal for recording a GPA of 3.75 or better, making him the only Cougar Baseball player in school history to accomplish that feat and the first to receive one since pitcher Brian Henderson and infielder Thanos Papavasiliou in 2001.

Stirneman, who also is a two-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, became the Cougar Baseball program's first Academic All-District honoree since Henderson was named to the Verizon Academic All-District 6 Second Team in 2003.

Stirneman is scheduled to receive his bachelor's degree during graduation ceremonies in December.

He was joined by pitchers Justin Fiske (Texas State, 3.92, Exercise and Sports Science), Ryne Tacker (Rice, 3.55, kinesiology/managerial studies) and Patrick Ezell (Southern Miss, 3.73, history), catcher Josh Plumaj (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4.00, marketing), infielders Brian Friday (Rice, 3.39, economics/managerial studies), Bradley Suttle (Texas, 3.54, business) and Trey Sutton (Southern Miss, 3.75, business administration), outfielders Aaron Ivey (Oklahoma, 4.00, energy management), Brandon Bowser (New Orleans, 3.86, mechanical engineering) and Austin Adams (TCU, 3.71, entrepreneurial management) and designated hitter Josh Yates (Arkansas State, 3.86, accounting.

As a First-Team honoree, Stirneman's name will now be placed on the national CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot.

Stirneman and his Cougar teammates return to action this weekend they hit the road to meet Conference USA rival Memphis in a three-game series at Nat Buring Stadium. The series begins at 6:30 pm., Friday, and continues at 2 p.m., Saturday, before wrapping up at 1 p.m., Sunday. Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com. To access the free broadcast, fans should click on the "Schedules and Results" link on the baseball main page. From there, fans can click on the "Audio Broadcasts" link, which will bring up the 2007 radio schedule.

Fans also can follow live stats via the Internet by clicking the "Gametracker" link on the UH front page or on the Cougar Baseball schedule page. Tuesday's game will not be broadcast on the Internet at UHCougars.com.