FRISCO, Texas –
Tyler Bischke became the first New Orleans Privateers baseball player to be named Southland Student-Athlete of the Year as part of the conference's All-Academic teams which were released on Thursday. Bischke and
Jacob Mead both earned First Team honors.
Bischke adds the accolade to a growing list of awards. He has also earned First Team All-Southland, Southland All-Tournament and Second Team ABCA All-Region recognition after a phenomenal season on the diamond.
The Pittsburgh native also carried a 3.61 GPA as a finance major and recently earned his degree in May.
On the field, Bischke ranked in the top ten in the Southland in runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, home runs and total bases. He started every game at second for New Orleans in the 2023 season and had 73 hits, 12 home runs and 54 RBI. He also co-led the team in doubles with 16.
Mead also earned his degree in Business Administration as he finished out his final season with the Privateers in 2023. He carried a 3.64 in his major and earned a 3.5 GPA in his last semester during the spring of '23.
On the field, Mead took over as the Privateers' closer down the stretch. He finished with five saves and a 3.63 ERA on the year. Despite not picking up his first save until May, the Round Rock, Texas native was just two saves behind the conference co-leaders in that category. He also earned Southland Pitcher of the Week honors.
It's the fourth consecutive year that a Privateer has earned Student-Athlete of the Year. Tennis student-athletes, Marcel Volz (2022), Johannes Klein (2021) and Ank Vullings (2020) all earned the award. Also in that span, Arina Kleshchukova (2021) won the award in cross country.
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