Klocke selected academic all-America player of year

Southeast Missouri State senior catcher Jim Klocke has received Division I baseball's highest honor as far as combining athletic and academic excellence.

Klocke won the University Division ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year award Tuesday.

Klocke, who has a 3.94 grade-point average with a major in business administration, became the first Southeast player to earn the honor and was one of 11 players selected nationally to the first team. He was a second team Academic All American last year.

In addition, Southeast senior pitcher Kyle Gumieny was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America third team.

"It's just a tremendous honor for Jim and very well deserved," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "It's also a really big honor for Kyle. They're both tremendous student-athletes and great citizens."

Klocke, a graduate of Vianney High School in St. Louis, was honored as a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American in 2009 after he hit .394 with nine home runs and 48 RBI.

Klocke also is one of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and one of 16 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award.

He is a four-year starter for the Redhawks and was named first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Klocke is batting .371 with 21 doubles, 13 home runs and 66 RBIs. He broke the school's career RBI record Friday and has 190 entering today's first-round game in the OVC tournament.

He ranks among Southeast's all-time career leaders in games played (6th, 211), at-bats (3rd, 773), runs (2nd, 205), hits (2nd, 280), doubles (5th, 58), home runs (7th, 32), walks (2nd, 120), total bases (2nd, 438) and saves (t-3rd, 8).

Gumieny, who is from Parker, Colo., has a 3.97 GPA in engineering technology. Gumieny, 8-1 on the year, leads the team and ranks second in the OVC in wins. He went undefeated in league play.