FRISCO, Texas – Sam Houston outfielder Colton Cowser is the 2021 Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Tuesday along with the all-academic teams. Student-Athlete of the Year awards are presented by GEICO.
The Southland Conference Player of the Year boasts a 3.79 GPA in construction management and picks up his second career academic all-conference nod. The Golden Spikes Award finalist was also named to the Southland All-Defensive team and garnered All-Southland Conference Tournament honors. Cowser enters next month’s MLB Draft as the No. 10 prospect, according to MLB.com.
In conference play, Cowser tied for the league lead with 11 home runs and ranked second in slugging percentage (.667), on-base percentage (.470) and runs scored (37). He registered 13 multi-hit performances in 33 games against Southland foes. In six games at the conference tournament, Cowser hit 11-for-21 (.524) with nine runs, six RBI, three doubles and a pair of home runs to help guide the Bearkats to the championship game.
Abilene Christian, McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi led the way with four selections apiece, followed by Central Arkansas and Southeastern Louisiana with three each. UIW, Lamar, New Orleans and Sam Houston each placed two on the teams, and Nicholls and Northwestern State each have one honoree.
A&M-Corpus Christi’s Itchy Burts, who garners his fourth all-academic nod, headlines a group of 11 multi-year honorees.
Four individuals own a perfect 4.00 GPA in Central Arkansas’ Logan Gilbertson, UIW’s Ridge Rogers, Northwestern State’s Levi David and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Luke Marbach. The average mark for the teams is 3.69.
Southland All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coach, sports information director and an academic staff member from each member school. Student-athletes must possess a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA and have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify. Nominees who were on the all-conference first team are automatically named Southland All-Academic.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, votes for the Student-Athlete of the Year. Student-Athlete of the Year candidates must have earned at least a 3.20 GPA and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
2021 Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year: Colton Cowser, Sam Houston
2021 Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic First Team
| Name | School | Cl. | GPA | Major |
| Mitchell Dickson* | Abilene Christian | Sr. | 3.89 | Financial Management |
| Colton Eager*2 | Abilene Christian | Sr. | 3.67 | Management |
| Tyler Cleveland* | Central Arkansas | Fr. | 3.50 | Physical Education/Teacher Education |
| Lee Thomas* | UIW | Gr. | 3.71 | Management Information Systems |
| Will Dion* | McNeese | Jr. | 3.07 | Sports & Wellness Management |
| Tre Obregon III | McNeese | Gr. | 3.75 | Criminal Justice |
| Clayton Rasbeary*2 | McNeese | Gr. | 3.62 | Criminal Justice |
| Levi David | Northwestern State | Jr. | 4.00 | Business Administration |
| Colton Cowser*^2 | Sam Houston | Jr. | 3.79 | Construction Management |
| Evan Keller | Southeastern Louisiana | Jr. | 3.82 | Chemistry |
| Will Warren*2 | Southeastern Louisiana | Jr. | 3.40 | Kinesiology |
| Itchy Burts*4 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Sr. | 3.67 | MBA |
| John Gaddis2 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Jr. | 3.77 | Biomedical Sciences |
| Luke Marbach2 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Sr. | 4.00 | MBA |
2021 Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic Second Team
| Name | School | Cl. | GPA | Major |
| Hunter Gieser | Abilene Christian | Sr. | 3.92 | Finance |
| Miller Ladusau | Abilene Christian | Jr. | 3.52 | Management |
| Logan Gilbertson | Central Arkansas | Gr. | 4.00 | Health Promotion |
| Kolby Johnson | Central Arkansas | So. | 3.96 | Finance |
| Ridge Rogers2 | UIW | Sr. | 4.00 | Rehab Science |
| Cole Girouard2 | Lamar | Sr. | 3.90 | MBA |
| Kelby Weyler2 | Lamar | So. | 3.94 | Exercise Science |
| Julian Gonzales | McNeese | Jr. | 3.94 | Biology Pre Med |
| Gaige Howard | New Orleans | Sr. | 3.58 | Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Admin. |
| Darren Willis | New Orleans | Sr. | 3.40 | Psychology |
| Joe Taylor | Nicholls | Jr. | 3.71 | Finance |
| Jack Rogers2 | Sam Houston | Sr. | 3.34 | Spring, Texas |
| Tyler Finke | Southeastern Louisiana | So. | 3.04 | Sport Management |
| Mike Williams | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Sr. | 3.38 | MBA |
^ Student-Athlete of the Year
* Automatic selection
2 Two-time all-academic selection
4 Four-time all-academic selection
{Courtesy: release from the Southland Conference}