AUSTIN, TX – Johns Hopkins senior outfielder Matthew Cooper, who will play later today with his Johns Hopkins teammates in the Division III Baseball World Series, has been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC / formerly CoSIDA) NCAA Division III Academic All-America Baseball First Team it was announced today.
 
Cooper becomes the 31^st Academic All-American in Johns Hopkins baseball history and the 14^th first team selection.  He is the first Johns Hopkins first team honoree since Jonathan Hettleman grabbed top honors in 2014.
 
Johns Hopkins' 31 Academic All-Americans are the most of any baseball program in the nation – at any level – since the CSC/CoSIDA first selected an Academic All-America Team in baseball in 1970.  Johns Hopkins had been tied with Notre Dame and Bucknell for the top spot with 30 selections prior to this year; neither the Fighting Irish nor the Bison had a baseball player named to the team in 2023.
 
Cooper is majoring in economics and carries a 3.54 cumulative grade point average.  His selection as an Academic All-American is the latest addition to his already impressive 2023 haul of honors as awards.  Cooper had previously landed First Team All-America honors from D3baseball.com and the ABCA while also being tabbed the Region V Player of the Year by both of those organizations as well.  These selections came after his nod as the Centennial Conference Player of the Year and the spot he earned on the All-Centennial First Team.
 
Entering the best-of-three Championship Series that starts today against Lynchburg, Cooper is hitting .409 with a school-record 24 home runs, 16 doubles, 68 RBIs and 63 runs scored.  In addition to leading the team in home runs, he also leads the way in on-base percentage (.498) and runs scored and is tied for the team lead with his 68 RBIs.  His 63 runs scored rank seventh on JHU's single-season list, while his 68 RBIs rank fifth and are just five shy of the program record.
 
Johns Hopkins is currently 47-6 on the year and has been ranked number one in the nation for a majority of the 2023 season.  The Blue Jays' 47 wins this season are a school record, while the team's .887 winning percentage is the highest in the nation among the 930 baseball programs at all levels of the NCAA.