St. Mary's College's Tarleton earns academic sports award

Following his third season as a member of the St. Mary’s College of Maryland baseball team, St. Mary’s County resident Cole Tharleton was recognized for academic excellence by the College Sports Communicators for the second straight season as a member of the CSC Academic All-District Baseball Team.

The CSC Academic All-District Baseball acknowledgement recognizes achievements on the field as well as in the classroom. Tarleton, a rising senior at St. Mary’s College who is majoring in economics and on pace to graduate next spring, carried a cumulative 3.7 GPA, made the dean’s list in each of the last four semesters and also earned a spot on the 2024 United East Spring All-Academic Team.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for what I’ve done academically,” said Tarleton, who previously played for St. Mary’s Ryken High School and was part of the St. Mary’s Legion Post 255 team that earned a berth in the American Legion World Series in 2022. “It shows that all of the hard work that I’ve put in during the school year in the classroom has really paid off.”

St. Mary’s College went 12-20 last spring, including a 7-8 mark in the United East Conference. The Seahawks dropped their UEC tournament opener against Penn State Harrisburg, but rebounded to defeat Penn State Abington and Lancaster Bible before eventually getting eliminated by Penn State Harrisburg in the championship round.

Tarleton enjoyed a solid junior season at the plate, batting .370 (44-for-116) with 11 doubles, three triples, three homers, 27 runs scored and 24 more driven in. He also boasted a .603 slugging percentage, a .459 on-base percentage, added 11 walks and four stolen bases. Defensively, Tarleton had a .988 fielding percentage with 82 putouts and one error in 83 chances.

“We had a good season and we won a playoff game for the first time in my three years on the team,” Tarleton said. “It was a lot to build on heading into my senior season. We did much better in conference and we have some momentum heading into next season. I’m really looking forward to my senior season. I felt we really came together as a team toward the end of the season.”