Special to the North San Antonio Times

He has hit enough home runs on the baseball field that he currently is number 21 among 500 ranked players in the NCAA Division II, and he has hit enough home runs in the classroom to post a career 3.90 grade-point average.

That potent combination has earned Dustin Walls the honor of University of the Incarnate Word Student-Athlete of the Year for 2007-2008.

A criterion for this annual presentation at UIW says that to be eligible any athlete must maintain a 3.50 or better on the University’s 4.00 scale. The athlete must have achieved junior or senior year status and must have been in residence at UIW for at least one academic year. The award is presented each spring to an undergraduate student-athlete.

In the classroom as a history major, Walls has accumulated an impressive list of academic achievements. He is UIW Dean’s List, he is Alpha Chi National Honor Society and he is on the Heartland Conference President’s Honor Roll.

He is vice president of the UIW History Club and he is a member of both Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society.

Outside, on the baseball diamond, he has performed at the highest level with his .452 batting average and his .986 fielding average at first base. Once in the 2008 season he was honored as a weekly Ping!Baseball National Outstanding Performer. He also has been Heartland , Conference Hitter of the Week as he leads the conference in average, home runs, runs batted in and total bases. In the Heartland he is in the top seven players in six additional categories.

At UIW this season, he already has set a new single season record for runs batted in, breaking his own mark established in 2006. And, with time remaining in the current season, he is second on the list for home runs in a single season.

With balloting yet to come, he is a nominee for Daktronics South Central all-region and for CoSIDA’s Academic All-District.

Currently a resident of San Antonio, Walls played his high school baseball at Kingwood in the Houston area before competing at McLennan College near Waco.

After the 2006 season at Incarnate Word, he was named NCBWA All-America honorable mention and was South Central All-Region as well as South Central All-Tournament. He also was ABCA All-Region and was CoSIDA Academic All-Region.

Walls will receive his baccalaureate degree in history at Incarnate Word’s spring commencement in early May.