May 31, 2006

Steve Maiolo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) earned a spot on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America University Division Baseball Team it was announced today. Maiolo, who was named to the second team, is the third Duquesne student-athlete to be honored as an Academic All-America this year.

Maiolo, a third team Academic All-America pick last year, is the first DU baseball player to be named to the Academic All-America team twice.

A senior secondary education and citizenship major with a 3.94 GPA, Maiolo started all 53 games for the Dukes this season. He finished his career as the school record-holder for most consecutive starts with 157. Maiolo finished the season with a .273 batting average with 30 runs scored and 21 RBI.

Maiolo, a three-time Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference selection, joins Noah Salsi (first team men's soccer) and Ryan Esdale (second team football) who were named Academic All-America earlier this year. Maiolo's honor marks the fifth time in the past seven years at least one Duquesne baseball player has earned Academic All-America honors (in addition to Maiolo's back-to-back selection, Sean Wilson was named to the first team in 2002-03 and Rocky Kravetz & Nick Danzuso were named second and third team respectively in 1999-00).

This is the 11th consecutive year Duquesne has produced at least one national Academic All-American. DU has had 30 different student-athletes named to national teams a total of 46 times.

The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

ESPN The Magazine is in its second year as the exclusive corporate sponsor of the Academic All-America program.

DUQUESNE'S BASEBALL ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS

Steve Maiolo      2nd Team      2005-06Steve Maiolo      3rd Team      2004-05Sean Wilson        1st Team      2002-03Rocky Kravetz        2nd Team      1999-00Nick Danzuso         3rd Team      1999-00B.J. Barns       3rd Team      1997-98Perry Napolitano     1st Team      1985-86

DU'S ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS IN 2005-06

Noah Salsi  soccer          1st TeamRyan Esdale football    2nd TeamSteve Maiolo baseball    2nd Team