Four members of the University of Illinois Springfield baseball team collected CoSIDA Academic All-District honors on Thursday. Austin Alderman and Kal Youngquist both won the award for the second time, and Brandon Bannon and Blake Begner were first-time recipients.
 
Alderman is the starting right fielder for the Prairie Stars. He earned first-team all-GLVC honors for the second straight season this year, and he was also a second-team all-region pick in 2021. He is a four-time honoree of the GLVC Academic All-Conference award.
 
This season, Alderman is batting .361, and is second on the team with a .657 slugging percentage. He has 52 runs, 61 hits, seven doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, and 53 RBI. In his career, Alderman is top-five in UIS history in on-base percentage, hits, runs, triples, home runs, total bases, and RBIs.
 
Youngquist, a Second-Team Academic All-American last season, was a first-team all-GLVC selection this season. Last year, he earned First-Team All-American, All-Region, and All-Conference honors. He has also won the GLVC Academic All-Conference award in each of his first two seasons at UIS.
 
Youngquist is batting .358 this season, and is second on the team with a .505 on-base percentage. He has 46 runs, 58 hits, 15 doubles, eight home runs, and 61 RBI. Youngquist is scheduled to end his career with the second-best batting average and on-base percentage in program history, and he is top-five in career doubles and RBI.
 
Bannon was a first-team all-GLVC pick this season, and he also earned all-GLVC honors in 2019 as a freshman. He has been named to three GLVC Academic All-Conference teams.
 
Bannon is among the nation's leaders this season with 73 runs. He is batting .386, and has a .630 slugging and .487 on-base percentage. He also has 71 hits, 14 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 11 stolen bases, and 46 RBI. Bannon is the program's all-time leader in runs, and is on the verge of breaking the record for career hits.
 
Begner has earned two GLVC Pitcher of the Week awards over the last two seasons, including one in April of this year. In his first season at UIS in 2021, he earned the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award, and was named to the GLVC Academic All-Conference team.
 
Begner is 4-0 this season with a 5.53 ERA. He has 55 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings, and has a .259 opponent batting average. In his career, he is now 11-2 with a 4.61 ERA. He is eighth all-time at UIS in wins and strikeouts per nine innings, and tenth in total strikeouts.