GREENWOOD, Ind. — Belmont Abbey baseball student-athletes Joe Whitaker and Caleb Burr are able to add another accolade to their extensive lists. The two outfielders were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American team that was released by the organization Tuesday.

Whitaker earned a spot on the second team while Burr is on the third team.

Whitaker had a breakout season in his final year with the Crusaders. The graduate from Tampa, Fla. finished with a career-best .413 batting average to go with a team-high 24 home runs and 89 runs batted in. He also finished with a 1.389 OPS and earned All-America honors from the ABCA and NCBWA back in May. He graduated from Belmont Abbey in May with a degree in Data Analytics and finished with a 3.71 GPA. It is his first selection on the CSC Academic All-American Team

Burr was a consensus all-region selection from the NCBWA, ABCA and D2CCA and one of five first team All-Conference Carolinas selections for the Crusaders. He also earned All-America honors from the ABCA and NCBWA The graduated student outfielder from Mount Holly, N.C. finished the season with a .426 batting average and finished with a 20 home runs to go with a 69 runs batted in.

Additionally, he finished with a 1.360 OPS, 19 doubles and 18 for 19 in stolen bases on the year. He completed his undergraduate degree in finance at Belmont Abbey and holds a 3.88 grade point average while pursuing a Master's degree in Data Analytics from the Abbey.He is the first student-athlete across Crusader athletics to be a two-time CSC Academic All-American.

There have now been a total of 13 student-athletes that have earned Academic All-American honors and it is the fourth straight year the Crusaders have had one named.

The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist the College Sports Communicators with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2025-26 Division II Academic All-America® program.

The full team can be found here.