AUSTIN, Texas – Former University of Hawai'i at Hilo shortstop Casey Yamauchi caps his collegiate career with Academic All-America Third Team honors as announced Wednesday morning and selected by the College Sports Communicators.

The recent Hawai'i Hilo graduate wrapped up a five-year career putting up a .404 batting average on 63 hits, 29 RBI and six home runs along with 50 runs scored, 23 walks, 23 steals and a .932 fielding percentage in 179 total chances. In the process, Yamauchi set several program career records including 240 hits, 147 runs, 49 doubles and 74 steals.

"Every year I just wanted to be better than I was the year before. It just so happens I got to break some records and win awards along the way," Yamauchi said. "I was really hoping to just make playoffs more than anything, but I'm pretty happy and proud of myself. I didn't just waste my time. I wanted to be the best person I could possibly be and I think this marks my work ethic."

At the time of submission, Yamauchi had achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.71 before ultimately finishing at 3.74 with a bachelor's in each of Kinesiology & Exercise Sciences and Communication.

As a whole, the Division II Academic All-America Teams combined for a 3.81 cumulative GPA.

The Vulcans finished the season at a 25-19 mark and just narrowly missed out on qualifying for the first-ever Pacific West Conference postseason tournament. A hot start to the year garnered national recognition in spending five weeks with a top 25 ranking, reaching as high as No. 13. Hawai'i Hilo also finished at No. 6 in the final NCAA West Region rankings.

Yamauchi was one of just five players from the PacWest Conference who was voted to Academic All-American status and was previously selected to the Academic All-District Team along with Ryan Cho and James Yamasaki.

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ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA PROGRAM
Founded in the mid 1950s, the Academic All-America selected by College Sports Communicators program honors combined academic and athletic excellence and has recognized more than 38,000 deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions.

CSC members nominate and vote for Academic All-America® teams in 16 sport contests in all NCAA and NAIA divisions. A College Division At-Large program recognizes teams in all other divisions.

The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2022-23 Division II Academic All-America® program.

COLLEGE SPORTS COMMUNICATORS
College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) was founded in 1957 and is a 3,200+ member national association for strategic, creative and digital communicators across intercollegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.Academic All-District nominations are submitted by athletics communications professionals based on program criteria for athletics accomplishments and academic achievements. In Aug. 2022, CoSIDA changed its name to College Sports Communicators.