COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball senior Matt Clarke is named College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) All-America Third Team as he becomes the first student-athlete in program history to earn Academic All-America honors.

Despite the cancellation of spring competition during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics.

The 2020 Academic All-America® Baseball Team, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.

Matt Clarke (Sacramento, Calif.) caps of an incredible two-year career with the Mountain Lions as he boasts a 3.694 GPA as a Business Management major to be voted UCCS baseball's first CoSIDA Academic All-American. In a short two years, Clarke worked to become a 2019 ABCA/Rawlings All-America Third Team and NCBWA All-America Honorable Mention selection as he recorded a career .348 batting average while driving in 44 RBI off 94 hits and holding an impressive .973 fielding percentage in 66 total games played and started. Also an ABCA/Rawlings All-Region First Team, NCBWA All-Region First Team, D2CCA All-Region First Team, and All-RMAC First Team selection, Clarke adds 34 extra base hits and 30 career multi-hit games to his stat line. Clarke has 25 doubles, two triples, and seven home runs in the black & gold as he set the single season doubles record in 2019 (20). Though the senior second baseman's 2020 season was cut short, Clarke came to notch NCBWA Preseason All-Region and All-America honors, as well as earn RMAC All-Academic First Team and CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selections.

Clarke joins UCCS men's soccer senior Alex VonHolle and UCCS women's soccer senior Aleesa Muir as Mountain Lions who have received CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in the 2019-20 season.