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AUSTIN, Texas – Virginia Tech graduated senior Erik Payne has been honored as one of the 33 players named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Baseball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and announced today.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Payne was named to the second team as an infielder after he led the team or was second in 11 offensive categories and tied a 50-year old school record to become Tech’s first Academic All-American in baseball in more than a decade.

He led the team in batting average (.343), hits (71), RBIs (53) and on-base percentage (.444), while he was second in runs (43), doubles (13), home runs (9), total bases (111), slugging percentage (.536), walks (32) and hit-by-pitches (8).

Payne tied the school record for walks in a single game when he drew five of them versus Appalachian State on April 28 of this season. He also became the first Hokie to register a multi-home run game (at Radford, April 22) since Chad Pinder had one on May 22, 2013; the first Hokie with a two-home run game in an ACC contest (at Pittsburgh, May 16) since Andrew Rash had one on April 13, 2013; and the first Hokie to hit a grand slam in an ACC contest (vs. Boston College, May 2) since Ronnie Shaban hit one on April 16, 2011.

Payne, who graduated with a degree in finance, is just the sixth Virginia Tech baseball player to earn Academic All-American honors and the first since 2004 when Tom Blaszak was a first teamer. Wayne Jarvis (1970, first team) was the first Hokie, followed by Tony Varbonceour (1975, first), Steve Render (1991, third & 1992, first) and Spencer Harris (2003, second).

To see the full release, that includes all three teams, click here.

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