Mississippi State Baseball's RJ Yeager Receives Academic All-America Honors

MSU second baseman RJ Yeager was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I team on Wednesday morning.

Mississippi State infielder RJ Yeager has made a name for himself on the baseball field and in the classroom.

Yeager was one of 33 student-athletes named to the First Team of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I baseball team on Wednesday morning. The graduate transfer kept a 4.0 GPA while pursuing his master's degree in Workforce Education Leadership and devoting countless hours to the university's baseball program. He is also one of the six players named to the team that has been selected more than once. 

Not only did Yeager put up stellar numbers in his studies, but he also excelled on the field. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound second baseman led the Diamond Dawgs with a .317 batting average and 18 home runs. His total number of homers on the season landed him in sixth place in the SEC. Yeager also led the team with a .668 slugging percentage, 56 RBI, 64 hits and 15 doubles. Defensively, he had a near-perfect fielding percentage of .994 and committed just one error on the season. 

Despite spending just one season with MSU, Yeager has picked up plenty of honors to rival countless athletes who once wore the maroon and white. He was a finalist for the Ferriss Trophy -- presented to the best baseball player in the state of Mississippi -- and was selected to the All-SEC First Team last month. Yeager also received third-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball. 

After four years at Mercer and one year at Mississippi State, Yeager will be turning his attention to the future. His contributions to MSU athletically and academically will be a model for upcoming student-athletes to follow in the coming years.