CSC Academic All-America Teams

CALIFORNIA (July 2) – California (PA) junior designated hitter Payton Conte was tabbed a Third-Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) on Tuesday afternoon.

Conte was the lone selection from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) on the Academic All-America Teams this year. He becomes the program's first Academic All-American since 2019 and the fifth all-time honoree in school history, all under head coach Mike Conte – his father.

A native of California, Conte ranked second in NCAA Division II with a .469 batting average (46-for-98) while starting 35 games. He broke the single-season school record for average set by Denny Brown 55 years ago and boasted the top mark by a PSAC player since 2018. Conte also paced the team with a .526 on-base percentage and a .663 slugging percentage. The former Trojan suffered an injury during the spring trip to Florida which eventually limited him to just over 50 at-bats in conference play after opening the season on a 10-game hitting streak.

Conte was voted the PSAC West Athlete of the Year prior to being named a first-team all-region selection by three different organizations. He also garnered Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) All-America Honorable Mention following his breakout junior campaign.

A 6-foot-4 junior, Conte holds a 3.58 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) while majoring in exercise science. He is program's third player in the last two decades to be collect both PSAC West Athlete of the Year and Academic All-America laurels in the same season. Conte also was named to the PSAC Spring Top 10 last month.

Note, Conte was a candidate on the CSC Academic All-America ballot as starting in the 2023-24 academic year advancement from Academic All-District submission to the Academic All-America ballot is determined by subcommittees of the CSC Academic All-America program.