BOSTON – Former Stony Brook baseball shortstop Nick Grande (Smithtown, N.Y.) has been named the 2018-19 America East Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, the league announced on Thursday afternoon. He is the second Seawolves male athlete to earn the honor and the first since the 2012 season.
 
A 17^th-round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Grande finished the academic year with a 3.99 GPA as a history and political science double major and also earned 2019 America East Player of the Year honors for the conference champion Seawolves.
 
He was a two-time member of the Commissioner's Honor Roll and was on the Dean's List all six semesters he was at Stony Brook. Among other academic honors, Grande was given the Undergraduate Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement in Athletics and was also a member of the Society of Distinguished Scholars and University Scholars.
 
Grande, who was also a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award given to the nation's best shortstop, finished the campaign with a .332 batting average in 54 starts, scoring 58 runs from Stony Brook's leadoff spot. He led the America East in runs, hits (69) and on-base percentage (.440).
 
He was earlier named as an ABCA/Rawlings All-Northeast Region First Team member and third team Collegiate Baseball All-American after leading the Seawolves to their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
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