Maryland RBI players Jared Smith, CJ Cummings, Connor Graham, and Billy Albaugh and Josh Matthews have received academic awards from the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference (SMAC) for high school sports.

Northern HS baseball players Smith and Cummings, both rising seniors, and rising junior Graham have been named to the 2013-2014 SMAC All-Conference Academic First Team for the spring season. Albaugh and Matthews have been named to the All-Conference Academic Second Team.

The first team is comprised of student-athletes who lettered in a varsity sport as well as excelling at the highest academic level for the 2013-2014 academic year with a minimum of a 3.5 cumulative GPA; the second team, 3.0 GPA.

"All our guys work really hard all year around in everything that they do," said manager Mike Graham. "They are always trying to be better on the field and that translates into their academic work. They know how to succeed and these awards just shows that you can be a strong baseball player and strong student at the same time."

Smith led the Northern HS baseball team in hitting with a .381 batting average, and had 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored and a double. Cummings had a .219 OBP. Graham hit .333, and had 4 RBIs, scored 3 runs and had a double. Albaugh had a .356 batting average with 13 RBIs and 15 runs scored. Matthews is a college freshman now playing at Hood College.