Hustle Belt Daily Dump: Academic Achievement All Over the MAC

June 6 is an important day in United States history and because of that, the world itself. In 1944, June 6 was the day that the Battle of Normandy began, the largest seaborne invasion in history and the beginning of the end of Nazi control of northern Europe.

For a history nerd, such as yours truly, it's a monumental day, but for all of mankind it was a watershed moment in history. Each day that we do a Daily Dump, we try to tie in some sort of event of the day. It could range from a birthday to a death, to a notable event. You would be hard pressed to find a more significant event to modern day life than D Day. If you don't know the backstory, the details, the impact, it would serve you well to do a little reading tonight instead of whatever other mindless activity you had planned.

It goes without saying that there was tremendous heroism, patriotism, and loss that particular day as a good number of young people who were integral in changing the course of history gave their life to do so. It's a somber sobering thought and one that isn't the usual festive fun lead in we have, but one that deserves remembrance and reverence all the same. On to the news...

Eric Lauer Named Collegiate Player of the Year | Kent State Sports

Collegiate Baseball has awarded Eric Lauer from Kent State it's Louisville Slugger Player of the Year. He was also named a 1st team All-American and teammate Eli Kraus was named a 2nd team All-American. One has to wonder how the regional performance of the MAC would have been different if Kent State was the representative.

Alex Call Named 1st Team All-American | Ball State Daily

Despite the subpar performance in the MAC tournament, Ball State's junior right fielder had a whale of a season and now has a Louisville Slugger 1st Team All-American status to show for it. Joining the aforementioned Lauer on the 1st team shows just how dominant the MAC could be.

Call & Stayton Academic All-Americans | Ball State Sports

Alex Call also took home some hardware off the diamond as he and teammate Caleb Stayton were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American 1st Team for baseball. This is a tremendous deal as there were only 11 names on that list, two of which were Ball State Cardinals. They were the only two from the MAC and the first Cardinals to land there since 2002.

Three Chippewas Named Academic All-MAC | CMUChippewas

Further evidence that it is about considerably more than just athletics in the Mid-American Conference as these three softballers do considerably better than I did in undergrad while competing at a varsity level. Thanks for making me feel bad about my performance.