May 8, 2008

Senior first baseman Ryan Hastings and senior designated hitter/outfielder Daniel Webb were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 5 first team Thursday. Honorees must be a starter or important reserve on the team, have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and be in their second year at their college or university. Hastings and Webb advance to Academic All-America voting, which begins on May 13. Winners will be announced near the end of the month.

Hastings holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in the sport management graduate program after compiling an undergraduate GPA of 3.46, also in sport management. Webb has a 3.2 GPA in community health.

Hastings is enjoying a career year, hitting .347, fifth-best on the team, with five home runs, 34 RBIs and 40 runs. He has 14 multiple-hit games on the year and nine multiple-RBI games. He had a career-best five-hit game in the series finale at Indiana and holds a career-best .390 mark in Big Ten play. Hastings also leads the Big Ten in fielding double plays in conference games.

Webb is second on the team with a .410 batting average and leads the Illini with a .439 average in Big Ten play. He leads the team with six home runs and his 42 RBIs rank second. He ranks fourth in the Big Ten in batting average and on-base percentage, and is the fourth-toughest hitter to strike out in the nation, striking out just once every 31.2 at bats. Webb went on a tear in April, hitting .506 and slugging .722 during the month to raise his batting average 118 points.