Florida Memorial University’s baseball team continued to elevate the academic standards for the Lions’ athletic programs as it had 11 players named to the Sun Conference’s All-Academic Baseball Team, it was announced late Tuesday.
Johnaikel Acosta, Julian Delgado, Rahin Gaiter, Juan Hernandez, Rohandry Javier, Manuel Mollinedo, Josue Sanchez, Yunior Sanchez, Jose Santana, Raul Torres, and Zachary Urso all received the honor by holding at least a 3.5 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) while being enrolled as full-time students for at least two semesters.
The Lions’ 11 honorees were the second-highest total among the Sun Conference teams. St. Thomas University had the highest number with 17 student-athletes. Florida Memorial’s total this year also matched its 2020 total of student-athletes to receive all-academic honors – also tying the highest total of honorees during head coach Florentino Burgos‘ tenure.
Academic success – in addition to being a solid program on the diamond – has become a staple of the Lions under Burgos.
The baseball program has seen a more than 200 percent increase in academic honorees since 2019 and has seen one of its players – Yunior Sanchez – win the coveted A.O. Duer Scholarship Award, which recognizes academic and athletic excellence by a junior student-athlete among all of the players on all the teams among all the programs in the Sun Conference.
Florid Memorial also recently completed its 2021 season with a trip to Montgomery, Alabama as participants in the inaugural Black College World Series – where the Lions reached the semifinals and had sophomore Nathan Harris Jr. win the event’s home run derby.