Lansing Sun

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's Dillon Kark has been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® Third-Team baseball team, as announced by CSC on Tuesday afternoon.

A senior from White Lake, Michigan, Kark's accolade marks the second consecutive year a Spartan has received this honor, following Brock Vradenburg's First-Team recognition last year. This is the first time since 2010-11 that MSU baseball has had an Academic All-America honoree in back-to-back seasons; Brandon Eckerle earned first-team recognition in 2011 after third-team honors in 2010.

Kark is the fourth Michigan State Athletics student-athlete to earn CSC Academic All-America® accolades this year, joining men's soccer player Jonathan Stout, women's soccer player Justina Gaynor, and men's tennis player Ozan Baris.

This achievement marks the fourth instance in MSU baseball history of having Academic All-America honorees in consecutive seasons. Previous instances include Larry Ike (1971) and Jerry Sackman (1972); Stuart Hirschman and Steve Johnson (1992 and 1993); Steve Money (1994), and Brandon Eckerle (2010 and 2011).

Kark is now Michigan State baseball's 16th recipient of an Academic All-America accolade and the 13th different Spartan baseball player to receive such honors.

Additionally, Kark is one of two Big Ten Conference players recognized as Academic All-Americans this year, joined by Nebraska pitcher Brett Sears. He is also one of two honorees from Michigan state institutions alongside Western Michigan outfielder Dylan Nevar.

Kark maintains a 3.92 GPA while majoring in strategic communication. He is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. He received the Scholar-Athlete Award at the Spartan Academic Excellence Gala for having the highest GPA on the baseball team. Kark will complete his master's degree in fall 2025.

On-field performance includes over 180 career games played as a Spartan. He tied for seventh place in doubles during B1G regular-season play with teammate Jack Frank (17). Alongside Frank and Randy Seymour, Kark was one of three Spartans to start all 51 games this season. He led MSU with 42 RBIs while sharing team lead for doubles with Frank (17). His other statistics include second place in hits (71), tied for second in triples (1), third in slugging percentage (.466), fourth in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in home runs (4), and fifth in batting average (.324).

Kark advanced to the All-America ballot after earning Academic All-District® accolades in May along with fellow Spartans Harrison Cook, Joseph Dzierwa, Nick Powers, and Christian Williams.

With these five Spartans earning Academic All-District accolades this year, MSU now boasts a total of 29 student-athletes who have achieved this honor throughout program history under head coach Jake Boss Jr., including four who have earned Academic All-America accolades: Brandon Eckerle (2010-11), Brock Vradenburg (2023), and Dillon Kark (2024).