Bennett named to CoSIDA Academic All-District VI baseball team

OLIVET, Mich. – Olivet College senior Riley Bennett has been named to the 2020 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District VI Baseball team. He is eligible to earn the 2020 CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-America® honors. Three Academic All-America® teams in early June.

The criteria for nomination includes a 3.30 or higher cumulative grade point average and be a starter or important reserve. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, career statistics were a part of the nomination this year instead of 2020 season statistics.

Bennett started all 91 games of his Comet career at shortstop. He finished with a .310 batting average to go along with 21 doubles, three triples and five home runs for a .437 slugging percentage. The .437 slugging percentage is eighth and .310 batting average is tied for No. 10 all-time at Olivet for batters with more than 300 career at-bats. In 2018, Bennett broke Comets' single-season record with 133 fielding assists, and in 2019, he had the second-highest total with 127. His 291 career fielding assists are tied for fifth all-time.

An insurance and risk management major, Bennett was named to the Dean's List (3.50-3.99 GPA) and President's List (4.0 GPA) during his time at Olivet. He was also selected to the 2017-18 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Academic Honor Roll.

Bennett is only the second baseball player in school history to earn Academic All-District honors. The other was Nick McIntosh in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The Academic All-District teams include student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. Olivet is in District VI, which includes schools in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. This is the eighth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA participants. A new college division featuring Canadian and two-year schools was introduced last spring.