PHILADELPHIA - La Salle closer
Pat Christensen and outfielder
Brendan Norton have been named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Baseball team, in voting conducted by the 28 area sports information offices.
For Christensen, it marks the fifth significant academic honor of this season. The junior was also named the Philadelphia Big 5 Student-Athlete of the Year, as well as making the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District, Academic All-Atlantic 10 and Academic All-Big 5 teams. In the classroom, he owns a 3.60 grade point average as a business administration major.
The La Jolla, Calif. native was on the All-Big 5 team as a closer for the third consecutive year after going 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA and nine saves. He struck out 54 batters and walked eight in 44 innings. He also led the Big 5 in saves for the third straight spring and set the La Salle, Atlantic 10 and Big 5 record for career saves. Christensen has also earned Atlantic 10 and All-Region recognition in his career.
With one season to play, Christensen is seventh with 148 career strikeouts at La Salle and second all-time in appearances. His career ERA of 2.84 is the lowest of any La Salle pitcher that has thrown at least 75 innings.
Norton receives Academic All-Area honors for the third straight season. He led the league in walks, setting a new school record in the process with 55 free passes.
The senior also led the team in runs scored (34) and was second with three home runs. His 10 career triples rank seventh all-time.
Norton has also been a CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District and Big 5 Student-Athlete of the Year. An accounting major, Norton has a 3.68 GPA.
West Chester senior Joe Wendle was voted the 2012 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Baseball Performer of the Year. Christensen, Norton and Wendle are joined on the squad by his teammate Fred Breidenbach, as well as Jesse Daywalt of Chestnut Hill College, Mike Bozzi of Haverford, Immaculata's Matt Hardy, Rowan's Brandon Winkler, C.J. Mooney and Albert Rivera of Rutgers University-Camden, Kyle Crawford of Swarthmore, and Nick Kuklane from the University of the Sciences.
