WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Five of Purdue Baseball’s graduates from the class of 2026 earned Academic All-District honors for compiling 3.5-plus grade point averages during their time as Boilermakers.
Academic All-American Aaron Manias headlines the quintet as now a two-time Academic All-District honoree. Manias completed his bachelor’s degree in selling and sales management with a flawless 4.0 GPA at Purdue. He has joined pitcher Jackson Smeltz (2019-22) as Boilermakers this decade to be multi-year Academic All-District honorees. Smeltz was recognized after the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, also earning Academic All-America accolades in 2022.
Eli Anderson, Gavin Beuter, Sam Flores and Jake Kramer joined Manias among Purdue’s Academic All-District achievers this season. They were recognized for having 3.5-plus GPAs coupled with starting at least 66% of the team’s games for position players or having appeared in enough games/pitched enough innings to meet the threshold for pitchers.
All five Boilermakers will be among the program’s Academic All-Big Ten honorees when those achievers are announced by the league office next week. They helped Purdue post a 3.17 GPA during the 2025-26 school year and 3.22 cumulative team GPA.
Aaron Manias – Selling & Sales Management
4.0 GPA at Purdue
3.82 GPA at Nebraska during 2023-24 School Year
4.0 GPA at Howard College from Fall 2021-Spring 2023
Gavin Beuter – Selling & Sales Management
3.73 GPA at Purdue
3.72 GPA at Kellogg Community College from Fall 2022-Spring 2024
Jake Kramer – Financial Counseling & Planning
3.66 GPA at Purdue
3.65 GPA at California University Pennsylvania from Fall 2022-Spring 2025
Eli Anderson – Selling & Sales Management
3.58 GPA at Purdue
2.99 GPA at North Iowa Area Community College from Fall 2022-Spring 2024
Sam Flores – Economics
3.51 GPA at Purdue
3.78 GPA at Kansas State during 2024-25 School Year
3.81 GPA at McLennan Community College from Fall 2022-Spring 2024
Manias was the team’s top utility man, being the only Boilermaker this season to start at least eight games at three different positions (DH, 1B, LF). He finished the season as the starter at first base while posting a 1.000 OPS for the second year on a row. Flores led the team in hits, doubles, home runs, RBI and runs scored while starting all 57 games at third base. Anderson was the only Boilermaker to start games in all three outfield positions this season, leading the Big Ten with 22 stolen bases. He batted leadoff a team-high 42 times and was second on the team in hits.
Kramer earned four victories and 10 saves in his 29 appearances, 17 of which came in Big Ten play. He finished his college career with 37 saves after setting team and conference records as an All-American closer at Division II California University (Pa.) during his first three seasons. Beuter posted a 1.88 ERA and 0.91 WHIP over 14 1/3 innings in Big Ten play, pitching his way into an expanded role in the bullpen after appearing in just four games over the first month.
College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District and Academic All-America program underwent an overhaul in the summer of 2022. The minimum GPA requirement was raised from 3.3 to 3.5 – with freshmen remaining ineligible. Graduate students are required to have achieved a minimum 3.5 GPA during their undergraduate course work as well. Programs are now permitted to designate a selected number of eligible student-athletes to be recognized as Academic All-District. That number of honorees for baseball has been set at five per team. Academic All-America honorees are selected from the Academic All-District designees.
The Academic All-District and Academic All-America programs continue to strive to spotlight student-athletes that achieve dual success in athletic and academic accomplishments.
