LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Baseball junior shortstop Tyson LeBlanc was named Second Team Academic All-America®, College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced on Tuesday.
LeBlanc is the first KU player to earn a spot on a CSC Academic All-America team in 18 years since Justin Ellrich in 2008 and only the sixth Jayhawk in school history.
An All-Big 12 First Team selection, LeBlanc was also named an All-American by four different outlets and the NCBWA District 6 Co-Player of the Year. LeBlanc is the sixth First Team All-American in Kansas history and the first in 20 years. He also won the Most Outstanding Player for the Lawrence Regional and Big 12 Tournament as well.
A native of Maurice, Louisiana, LeBlanc etched his named in the Kansas record book by setting a new single-season school record with 25 home runs. He started every game at shortstop in 2026 and finished the year with a .341 batting average, 87 hits, 12 doubles, 69 RBIs, 64 runs, 38 walks and 11 stolen bases this season. LeBlanc had 180 total bases which was the second most in a season in KU history.
LeBlanc finished his junior year with a 3.66 GPA in pre-business. He joins Pat Karlin (1990), Jimmy Walker (1993), Josh Dimmick (1996, 1997, 1998), Pete Smart (2001) and Just Ellrich (2008) as CSC Academic All-America recipients. LeBlanc was one of four Big 12 athletes on the Academic All-America teams.
To qualify for the Academic All-America Teams, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically and have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average. Also, student-athletes must compete in 90 percent of the team's games or start in at least 66 percent of the team's contests. The requirement for pitchers was either 17 appearances or 25 innings pitched.
All candidates that are forwarded through member nominations go to an Academic All-America sub-committee made up of a national coordinator and five sub-committee reviewers. The sub-committees are charged with examining each candidate put forth for Academic All-America consideration and advancing only those with the highest academic and athletic credentials.