June 8, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Two Notre Dame baseball players have been named to the 2000 GTE Academic All-America Baseball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Senior second baseman Jeff Perconte (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove HS) was one of 11 players named to first team while junior lefthander Mike Naumann (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) was the only pitcher among 10 players named to the third team.

Notre Dame baseball players have combined for 15 Academic All-America awards (since 1977), including a pair of two-time honorees in outfielders John Loughran ('86, '87) and Dan Peltier ('87, '88). Perconte and Naumann are the first Irish baseball players to earn Academic All-America honors since 1992, when first baseman Joe Binkiewicz and infielder Cory Mee were first-team honorees.

Perconte is the seventh Irish baseball player to receive first-team Academic All-America honors, with the others including catcher Tim Pollock ('77), infielder Dave Bartish ('80), third baseman James Dee ('84), Loughran ('86), Binkiewicz and Mee.

Notre Dame was one of seven Division I baseball programs to produce multiple 2000 Academic All-Americans, with the following schools also producing two: St. Bonaventure, Davidson, North Carolina, Bucknell, St. Joseph's (Pa.) and Duquesne (of those teams, Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure were the other ones that produced a first-teamer). Of the above seven teams, only two-Notre Dame and UNC-participated in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

Perconte closed his career in the spring of 2000 with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and seventh Dean's List semester before graduating with a 3.76 cumulative GPA as a double major in economics and government. A valuable leader of the 2000 Irish baseball squad and a team tri-captain, Perconte was batting .429 before reaggravating a shoulder injury that caused him to miss 11 games early in the 2000 season. He opened the 2000 season with 34 error-free games as the starting second baseman and posted a .975 season fielding pct. in 46 total games played (with just four errors). Perconte-who will attend law school next fall-appeared in 153 games during his career while helping the Irish post a 171-73 record (.701) during the 1997-2000 seasons.

Naumann likewise has posted perfect semester GPAs during his Notre Dame career, with his six Dean's List semesters including three 4.0 terms. A pre-professional science major who intends to attend medical school after his graduation in May of 2001, Naumann heads into his senior year with a 3.93 cumulative GPA. Naumann served as the only lefthander on the 2000 Notre Dame pitching staff that finished among the nation's top-20 leaders in team ERA (3.93). His career statistics at Notre Dame include a 6-1 record and just 22 walks in 75 innings while his 2000 highlights included a win over Detroit, a save versus Boston College and a 3.48 season ERA (second-best on the staff). He allowed just seven walks in 34 innings of work during the 2000 season.

Six Notre Dame student-athletes have received Academic All-America honors during 1999-2000, with the others including junior women's basketball player Ruth Riley (first team), senior hockey player Andy Jurkowski and senior men's swimmer Ray Fitzpatrick (both third team, for fall/winter "at large sports) and sophomore softball catcher Jarrah Myers (third team). Two others currently are being considered for spring "at-large" Academic All-America status: senior men's golfer Jeff Connell and senior women's distance runner Alison Klemmer.

2000 GTE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA BASEBALL TEAMS - UNIVERSITY DIVISION

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

Note: Perconte and Naumann's GPAs are updated to include the 2000 spring semester (others are as of the 1999 fall).