Bryce Johnson led a group of three Smith-Cotton players named to the academic all-state baseball teams.

Johnson, Derik Kinde and Jared Hagedorn were recently selected to the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Class 4 academic all-state team.

The Tigers finished second in Class 4 as a team. Smith-Cotton posted a 3.52 grade-point average and were one of only five participating schools to clear the 3.5 GPA mark.

“That’s great for those young men and our team,” Smith-Cotton coach Ross Dey said. “That’s a thing we stress all the time and we’ve got some really good young men that (believe) grades are important and their families stress grades are important.”

Eureka finished first in Class 4 with a 3.64 team GPA, tying for the best mark in the state with Class 2’s Blue Eye.

Johnson was selected to the team for the second consecutive year. Johnson and Hagedorn were juniors while Kinde was a senior.

“Bryce, Jared and Derik have done very well in the classroom, along with some others,” Dey said.

Concordia’s Seth Smith was named to the Class 1 all-academic team.

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