June 21, 2005

ARLINGTON, Texas - Two members of the Texas-Arlington baseball team were honored on Tuesday as shortstop Josh McSpadden and pitcher Grant Varnell were named to the 2005 Hibernia Bank/Southland Conference All-Academic Team. McSpadden and Varnell are two of 11 student-athletes from seven different universities voted to the league's All-Academic team.

The all-academic team honors student-athletes who were selected all-conference and/or named as a national all-academic recipient this year while also earning a 3.00 grade point average. Remaining spots on the all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators. Student-athletes must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition.

McSpadden (Liberal, Kansas) was honored after maintaining a 3.56 GPA in psychology. McSpadden ended his college career by hitting .248 with seven doubles, 18 RBIs and 27 runs scored.

Varnell (Allen, Texas) earned honorable mention all-SLC honors while maintaining a 3.52 GPA in interdisciplinary studies. Varnell finished his senior season with an 8-2 record with a 3.33 ERA. He struck out 71 and walked only 18 in 110.2 innings of work. Varnell tossed five complete-games in 17 starts before being taken in the 25th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres.