Chambana Sun

Illinois baseball has announced that three of its players have been honored with College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District recognition. The players who received this distinction are Camden Janik, Connor Milton, and Ben Plumley.

Camden Janik, an All-Big Ten First Team catcher, led the Illini in batting average for the second consecutive season with a .356 mark. He also topped the team in hits (80), doubles (15), and on-base percentage (.440). Janik was one of the most challenging players to strike out nationwide, striking out only 11 times in 225 at-bats. His strikeout average of 20.5 is the third-highest in the country, making him the only catcher ranked in the Top 10 for this statistic. Defensively, he was effective behind the plate by throwing out nine baserunners in 16 stolen base attempts. His grand slam against Purdue on May 17 was crucial in helping Illinois secure the 2024 Big Ten championship.

Connor Milton had a breakout season with a slash line of .309/.433/.573. In his appearances across 51 games, starting 31 of them, he achieved career highs in runs (30), hits (34), home runs (8), RBI (17), and walks (21). Milton hit his first career home run against Northern Illinois on April 13 and had an outstanding performance during Illinois' series sweep of Northwestern from April 19-21. During that series, he went 9-for-12 with five runs scored, two doubles, three home runs, and eight RBI. This performance earned him Big Ten Player of the Week honors for the first time.

Ben Plumley was a key pitcher from the bullpen for Illinois this season with 23 appearances totaling 35.1 innings pitched. He struck out 33 batters including a season-high four against Ohio State on May 3. The redshirt sophomore showed dominance towards the end of the season by allowing just one earned run over his last 11 innings pitched which resulted in an ERA of 0.87 over seven games.

To qualify for CSC Academic All-District honors, nominees must maintain a GPA of at least 3.50 and be at least sophomores both academically and athletically. They must also be starters or significant reserves who participated in at least ninety percent of their team's games during the season.