May 26, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State relief pitcher Paul Cianciolo put a cap on an impressive two-sport career on Tuesday, as he was named a 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Second Team selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Cianciolo was eligible for inclusion on the Academic All-America® team selected by CoSIDA after being named an Academic All-District II First Team selection by the organization on Thursday, May 7. Both honors are a first for the Charleston, S.C. native in his career at Penn State.
This marks the highest CoSIDA Academic All America honor since Mike DeRenzo made the first team in 2002. Penn State baseball has sported five Academic All-Americans this decade and eight in program history.
To become eligible for nomination, a student-athlete must obtain a 3.30 grade-point average in both undergraduate and graduate coursework and perform exemplary work on the diamond.
Cianciolo, a native of Charleston, S.C., has become one of Penn State's most revered student-athletes in recent memory. He owns a GPA of 3.94 and has attained honors during every semester as an undergraduate in marketing at the Smeal College of Business. After graduating in three years, Cianciolo moved onto obtaining his Master's of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with a primary concentration in corporate finance and earned a GPA of 3.8 in his post-graduate studies. He is also two-sport athlete who also served as a quarterback on the 2008 Big Ten champion Penn State football team.
This month, he became the first player in Penn State baseball history and the first student-athlete in the 59-year coaching tenure of Joe Paterno to obtain his M.B.A. within the five years of NCAA athletic eligibility.
In his first complete season on the Penn State baseball team, Cianciolo held a 4-1 record and a 4.5 ERA for Robbie Wine's squad. He has given up just 16 walks in 58 innings - an average of three per nine frames pitched - and has been instrumental as a long reliever in the Nittany Lion bullpen. During a two-week stretch during Big Ten play, Cianciolo tossed over 20 innings of work with a 1.73 ERA with a key victory against Michigan with five innings of work.
He held the lowest ERA among long relievers during both seasons with the Nittany Lions last year.
Following graduation, Cianciolo will be entering Wall Street in investment banking. Last summer, he served as an investment banking analyst for Allen & Company, LLC in New York City, where he Conducted market analysis and comparables valuation for Major League Baseball.