BOILING SPRINGS – Gardner-Webb seniors Jonathan Ahearn, Justin Loyd and Brock Miller were named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III Thursday morning, with Ahearn earning first-team honors.

Ahearn (Charlotte, N.C.) will now be eligible for voting on the Academic All-America ballot due later this month. Loyd (Louisburg, N.C.) and Miller (Alma, Ga.) earned second-team All-District III honors.

Gardner-Webb is the only college baseball program in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia with more than two players on the All-District III team. The players were nominated and voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Ahearn, who was announced as the recipient of the Big South Conference's Bob McClosky Insurance Graduate Fellowship on Wednesday, carried a 3.90 cumulative grade point average in health/wellness, and is currently enrolled in Gardner-Webb's Godbold School of Business after graduating Summa Cum Laude in December, 2008.

The former Providence (N.C.) High standout has enjoyed a stellar senior season on the diamond, batting a career-high .329 with 18 stolen bases, 55 hits, 26 runs scored, three home runs and 21 RBI. Ahearn, who has started all 43 games for Gardner-Webb (22-21) in right field, also has four outfield assists defensively and a .991 fielding percentages for the season.

Ahearn has played in 150 career games at Gardner-Webb (110 starts) and is a career .283 hitter with four home runs, 43 RBI, 69 runs scored and 48 stolen bases. Ahearn currently ranks fifth all-time in Gardner-Webb history for career steals, and needs four to move past Jamall Kinard for fourth position.

Ahearn's twin brother, Chris, a shortstop at Division II Catawba College, was named first-team Academic All-District III in the College Division on Thursday.

Loyd, the Bulldogs' starting third baseman, carries a strong 3.64 cumulative grade point average in Business Administration. The former Kerr-Vance Academy standout just missed inclusion on the All-District first team, and was the top vote getter among infielders on the second team.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder has been outstanding at the plate, and in the field, for Gardner-Webb in 2009, batting a career and team-best .404 in 42 starts. Loyd has rapped out 67 hits in 166 at bats and ranks among the Big South Conference leaders in batting average, hits, slugging percentage (.645), RBI (48), doubles (16) and home runs (8). Loyd has also scored 45 runs and has swiped a career-high seven bases in seven attempts.

Defensively, Loyd has been a wall, fielding a strong .951 at the hot corner with only seven errors in 143 chances – with spectacular plays becoming routine for the senior.

Loyd ranks sixth in GWU history with 197 career hits, with 148 of those safeties coming in the past two seasons. He is tied for fifth with 40 career doubles, is sixth with 118 RBI and is within four points of tying standout Blake Lalli for fourth in career batting average. Loyd is a .337 career hitter with 15 home runs and 150 starts at third base.

Miller has been a mainstay in centerfield for Gardner-Webb the past two seasons, and has been a standout in the classroom as well – forging a 3.62 cumulative grade point average in computer science.

The speedster from Alma, Ga., is also in the midst of a career-best year at the plate, batting .381 with 54 runs scored, seven doubles, three triples and two home runs. Miller broke his own single-season stolen base record at Radford, and is among the top-5 nationally with 34 stolen bases this season. Miller broke what had been a 35-year old single-season steals record for Gardner-Webb in 2008 with 33 bags, only to top that this season.

Miller leads the Big South in steals (34), and ranks among the top-3 in on-base percentage (.497) and runs scored (54) so far this season. For his career, Miller has made 114 starts and ranks second in school history with 88 steals (106 attempts). He is a .328 career hitter with 130 runs scored, 155 hits, 22 doubles, nine triples and 64 walks. He ranks fifth in GWU history with 130 career runs scored and fourth in career triples.

Gardner-Webb gets back to action on Friday afternoon at 3 pm ET in a home bout with High Point on Masters Field.