NATCHITOCHES – A quintet of Northwestern State baseball players landed spots on the Southland Conference All-Academic Baseball Team.
 
Outfielders Brooks Leonard, Joe Siervo and JT Simonelli are joined in the Demons' haul by left-handed pitchers Jacob LeBlanc and Carter White. The team was announced by the Southland Conference office Thursday morning.
 
This year's selection criteria were for the student-athletes to have maintained at least a 3.25 grade point average, completed at least one full semester at his current institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competitions.
 
Teams were allowed to nominate up to five student-athletes who met the criteria.
 
White, a sophomore health and exercise science major from Bossier City, is a repeat selection, maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. A second-team selection a year ago, White was a member of the Collegiate Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
 
He picked up a win and a save in Southland play, including closing out the Demons' three-game sweep of UTRGV in Edinburg, Texas.
 
The other four Demons earned their first academic all-conference selections.
 
LeBlanc, a sophomore business administration major from Central, was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team after carrying a 3.67 grade point average.
 
LeBlanc tied for the team lead with 17 appearances, posting a 4-2 record with a 3.09 ERA. LeBlanc earned the win in the Demons' Southland Conference Tournament victory against UTRGV, firing 3 2-3 innings of shutout relief while tying a career high with four strikeouts.
 
Leonard, a junior health and exercise science major from Pierre Part, was a second-team All-Southland Conference selection after leading the Demons in batting average (.315), triples (3) and stolen bases (24). He carries a 3.59 grade point average and was a member of the CSC Academic All-District Team.
 
Leonard led the Southland in triples (3) and stolen bases (16) in league plays while also putting together a 21-game hitting streak from March 7-April 12. The streak was the longest by a Demon hitter since Cort Brinson's school-record, 29-game run in 2015.
 
Simonelli, a business administration major from Quitman, batted .267 with 14 total extra-base hits in his first Division I season. His five home runs ranked third on the team.
 
Simonelli added eight doubles, which tied him for third on the team, while maintaining a 3.92 grade point average.
 
Siervo, a senior sport management major from St. Louis, ranked second on the team in home runs (6), RBIs (36) and stolen bases (13) in his lone season with the Demons.
 
Two of those home runs came in a Game 2 victory against UIW in a March 6 doubleheader in San Antonio.
 
Siervo held a 3.42 grade point average while starting all but one game in center field for the Demons.