WEBSTER GROVES – For the third consecutive year, Webster University fifth-year senior two-time All-American pitcher Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic) earned 2021 Academic All-District 5 honors for NCAA Division III Baseball as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
 
The Academic All-District Team presented by CoSIDA recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances both athletically and in the classroom. To be nominated by their respective school's SID, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore and a starter or key contributor with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at their current institution. 
 
Mulhearn earned his third straight First-Team Academic All-District 5 selection after carrying a 3.83 cumulative grade point average in his second year of pursuing his MBA at Webster University. As an undergraduate student at Webster, Mulhearn earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance and carried a 3.77 cumulative GPA in the classroom. In the classroom, he was a four-time member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Academic Team, was a 2020 CoSIDA Division III Baseball Second-Team Academic All-American and was named the 2020-21 Webster Athletics Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
Mulhearn, who is a four-time All-SLIAC selection, including a three-time First-Team All-SLIAC selection, was named the Division III National Pitcher of the Year in 2021 by ABCA/Rawlings, D3Baseball.com and Perfect Game Baseball and also was named the SLIAC Pitcher of the Year and a Central Region Pitcher of the Year by both ABCA/Rawlings and D3Baseball.com. In addition to being a First-Team All-American this season, Mulhearn was named a Third-Team ABCA/Rawlings and Honorable Mention D3Baseball.com All-American and an ABCA/Rawlings All-Central Region and a First-Team All-SLIAC honoree as a junior in 2019.
 
During the 2021 season, Mulhearn recorded a 12-1 record, an 0.90 ERA in 13 starts and tossed six complete games, threw two shutouts. In 100 innings of work, allowed 62 hits, 14 runs, 10 earned runs, struck out a school and SLIAC single-season record 137 and walked just 10. The 137 strikeouts and 12 wins are tops in Division III baseball, while his 0.72 WHIP was third-best in Division III and his 0.90 ERA was sixth-best in Division III.

On the year, Mulhearn recorded double-digit strikeouts in eight of his 13 starts, including a school record 17 strikeouts in his no-hitter against Eureka on April 2 and ended the season winning six consecutive starts and pitched at least eight innings in nine of his 13 starts. In his final start of the season against Transylvania in the first round of the NCAA Decatur, Illinois Regional on May 27, Mulhearn tossed a complete game as he allowed four hits and one unearned run, while striking out 11 and walking one in his 129-pitch effort.

In his five-year career as a Gorlok, Mulhearn holds school career marks for innings pitched (346), wins (34), appearances (67), strikeouts (364) and holds school single season marks for innings pitched (105.2 in 2019), strikeouts (137 in 2021), wins (12 in 2019 and 2021), while his 0.90 ERA this season in second on the school's single season charts. His 34 wins are not only a school record, but also a SLIAC record, while his 364 career strikeouts are second-most in SLIAC history.
 
Mulhearn was the only player from the SLIAC to earn Academic All-District honors in baseball and with his first team selection, he will now be placed on the national ballot for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Baseball Team, which will be announced on Tuesday, July 27.
 
Mulhearn is the seventh student-athlete from the 2020-21 school year to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as he joins fifth-year senior softball player Abby Burroughs (Edwardsville, Ill./Triad), junior men's soccer players Tanner Haugen (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) and Justin Kohler (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) and junior volleyball players Kylie Burke (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) and junior Kyra Gensel (Clarkton, N.C./Harrells Christian) and sophomore volleyball player Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff).

Voting for the Academic All-District team is conducted by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Webster's representatives are District 5 selections from Division III institutions comprised from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Here is the complete 2021 CoSIDA Division III Academic All-District 5 Baseball Team:
P – Matt Mulhearn, Webster University, Sr., 3.77/3.83, Finance (UG) / MBA (G)
P – Ryan Loutos, WashU, Sr., 3.90, Computer Science
C – Will Evans, Birmingham-Southern College, Sr., 3.93, Biology
IF – Bo Anderson, WashU, Jr., 3.84, Computer Engineering
IF – Hudson Chastain, Transylvania University, Sr., 3.90, Accounting
IF – Joe Tolone, Emory & Henry, Sr., 3.90, Physics
IF – Tim VanKirk, WashU. Jr., 3.63, Business
OF – Conner Clark, Christopher Newport, Sr., 3.85, Accounting
OF – Joshua Greenway, Ferrum College, Sr., 4.00, Pre-Professional Health Sciences / Pre-Therapy
OF – Cole Steadman, Birmingham-Southern College, Sr., 3.82, Accounting