Close Named to Capital One Academic All-America First Team
6/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Liberty senior first baseman/pitcher Alex Close has been named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Baseball first team, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
A total of 33 student-athletes earned inclusion on this year's Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Baseball team, divided into three squads. The first team consists of 11 players. Of the 33 honorees, Close, who was named at first base, and Campbell designated hitter Matt Parrish, who earned second team honors, represent the Big South Conference on the squad.
Close was named to the team for the second consecutive year, becoming the first Liberty baseball in program history and the seventh Liberty student-athlete to be selected to the academic team multiple times. He joins former men's soccer player Mike Gelatt (2007-08) and football player Pat Kelly (2010-11) as the only Liberty student-athletes to earn first team honors in back-to-back years.
In 2014, Close became one of three Liberty baseball players to ever be voted to a Division I Academic All-America team. He joined former teammate Trey Lambert on the 2014 team, while former infielder Jason Benham was named to the 1998 Acadmeic All-America Division I Baseball third team.
The infielder was one of only two juniors to be included on the 2014 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Baseball team.
Close graduated from Liberty with a 3.84 GPA in business administration: finance and was named the 2015 Big South Baseball Men's Scholar-Athlete of Year, this past May. The Hoover, Ala., native earned his second Big South All-Conference first team honor as infielder, ranking among the conference leaders in several offensive categories.
Close started all 56 games in his final season with the Flames, 33-23 in 2015, hitting .342 with 46 RBI and 40 runs scored. The senior had 13 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 113 total bases, while posting a .422 on base percentage, and a .516 slugging percentage. He finished the year among the Big South leaders in batting average (8th), hits (8th), home runs (10th), RBI (7th) and total bases (7th).
Close, a 27th round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft, led the Flames in batting average, hits, doubles, slugging percentage and on base percentage. The first baseman led Liberty with 25 multi-hit games and 13 multi-RBI contests. He also reached base in a team-high 39 consecutive games during 2015.
In addition, Close pitched for the Flames in 2015. The senior made 18 relief appearances, posting a 2-2 record with a 2.21 ERA and a team-leading six saves. He struck out 24 and walked nine batters over 20 1/3 innings.
Close was selected as the 2015 Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award, honoring the top graduating senior student-athlete at Liberty. The senior has been named to the Dean's List eight times and earned Big South Presidential Honor Roll mention three times. He also was selected to the 2014 VaSID All-State Academic team.
The infielder has been a two-year member of Liberty's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. During his time with the committee, he has been able to volunteer in Lynchburg area schools in various roles (gift wrapping drives, school carnivals and reading programs).
A four-year starter for the Flames, Close finished his career among the Liberty career leaders. The first baseman completed his career third in hits (258), fourth in home runs (33), tied for fourth in RBI (166) and 10th in doubles (47).
In 2012, Close was a Louisville Slugger and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman All-American. He also was voted the 2012 Big South Freshman of the Year.
