University of Rochester senior right-hander Nolan Sparks was recognized as a First-Team Academic All-American^® by the College Sports Communications (CSC), as announced by the CSC on Tuesday.
 
Sparks earns his second-straight CSC All-America nod following his third-team honors in 2023, becoming UR baseball's first two-time Academic All-American and first first-team selection since Garrett Renslow scored back-to-back first-team honors in 2019-20.
 
"This is an incredible honor for Nolan and well deserved," Head Coach Joe Reina said. "To be able to compete at the level he does while taking the coursework he takes, I am glad he is recognized properly!"
 
Sparks capped off a sensational, four-year career with the Yellowjackets with D3Baseball.com Fourth-Team All-America honors, becoming just the fourth All-American in program history. A two-time ABCA and D3baseball.com All-Region and a three-time First-Team All-Liberty League selection, Sparks repeated as the Liberty League Pitcher of the Year this season, going 4-2 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 10 starts on the mound.
 
Over 60.0 innings pitched, Sparks struck out 80 batters, tied for the second-most in a single season in program history, and walked just 19, holding opponents to a .201 opponent batting average. The senior led the Liberty League in strikeouts and ranked in the top five in ERA, WHIP, opponent batting average, wins and games started and finished in the top 50 nationally in ERA (30th), WHIP (47th) and strikeouts (49th) in NCAA Division III.
 
Sparks twice was named the Liberty League Pitcher of the Week and once earned D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors this season, pitching one shutout and a pair of complete games, including a complete-game performance in UR's Liberty League Tournament opener against RPI on May 9, holding the Engineers to just one run to help the Yellowjackets move on to the winner's bracket.
 
A five-time Liberty League Pitcher of the Week for his career, Sparks became UR's all-time leader in strikeouts this season with 248, and also graduates ranked second all-time in starts, fourth in wins, seventh in innings pitched, ninth in opponent batting average and 10th in ERA.
 
Off the field, Sparks in a three-time Liberty League All-Academic selection and a two-time CSC Academic All-District selection, graduating with a 3.92 GPA. The Aurora, CO native was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, named a 2023 Lysle 'Spike' Garnish Scholar-Athlete in the fall and received the Simon Scholar Award.
 
The 24 CSC Academic All-America® Baseball Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes and are voted on by CSC members. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and compete in 90 percent of an institution's games or must start in at least 66 percent of an institution's games. For baseball pitchers, the minimum is 17 appearances or 25 total innings pitched.
 
The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes baseball and softball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.