MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg baseball player Bret Williams has been named Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He is the first player in school history to earn the prestigious honor.

For Williams, it is his first such award during an outstanding career that's seen him excel on the diamond and in the classroom. He joined 10 other players from the state of Pennsylvania as honorees from CoSIDA's NCAA Division III District 4.

Earlier this spring, Williams earned D3baseball.com Preseason First-Team All-America honors and was named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Division III Players to Watch List. Prior to the 2020 season being cut short, the senior was slashing a blistering .472/.525/.887 with an OPS of 1.412. Through just 12 games, he racked up 25 hits, including five home runs and seven doubles, to go along with 17 runs batted in and 14 runs scored. The outfielder was named the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Player of the Week in early March.  

Following a 2019 campaign that saw him clinch NCAA Division III Statistical Championships in the categories of hits (88), runs (75) and total bases (161), he was named a First-Team All-American by both ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com. The Mount Carmel, Pa. native was named the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Player of the Year and First-Team All-Region by the ABCA and Rawlings to go along with a D3baseball.com First-Team All-Region honor. The outfielder was named the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Player of the Year thanks to slashing .431/.514/.789 with an OPS of 1.303, winning the league's batting title and ranking second in the nation in home runs (18) and RBI (70). He added 36 extra-base hits, including 17 doubles, 32 walks and seven stolen bases. Williams was named CAC First-Team All-Conference for the second year in a row after picking up D3baseball.com National Team of the Week and CAC Player of the Week honors earlier in the year.

Williams has also been consistent in the classroom, having been named to the CAC All-Academic Team on two occasions for his efforts. The Security and Risk Analysis major currently holds a 3.31 cumulative GPA.