Austin Montgomery

Classroom

Montgomery is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and has interned with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. the last two years. During the last two years, he has taken on a demanding courseload of over 15 credit hours per semester and maintained an overall GPA of 3.47. He is scheduled to graduate this summer. Montgomery earned CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District honors in 2012 and was also selected to the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete first team. He also took home MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors following the opening week of the 2012 season. He has been named Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week twice this season.

Character

After a solid freshman campaign in which he hit .319 and earned an All-MVC honorable mention, Montgomery battled mono throughout the 2011 season, missing 14 games in March with the illness. He lost 20 pounds before returning to the field. Despite the illness and weight loss, he managed to hit .291 in 43 games. Austin also bounced around at five different positions that season, filling in wherever he was needed for an injury-depleted team and never complaining. He learned after the season that he had reacquired the virus late in the season and played the Missouri Valley Tournment with the illness, hitting .273 with a pair of doubles in three games.

Community

Montgomery has been active in the Just Read program, visiting local elementary schools to read books to students and promote the importance of reading. In addition, he has volunteered his time at The Women’s Center, a local shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. He helps at the annual holiday party for the children of the survivors.

Competition

Montgomery has been a jack-of-all-trades in his career at Southern, a three-year starter, he has played third base, right field, designated hitter, first base and even catcher. This season he has split time between third base and the outfield. Montgomery was selected first-team All-Conference as a utility player in 2012 and was a preseason All-Conference selection in 2013, also as a utility player. This season, Montgomery is among the conference leaders in doubles and has surpassed 200 hits for his career. Montgomery started all 59 games for the Salukis in 2012 and finished fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference batting race with a .332 average. In addition, he finished in the top 10 in the conference in six other offensive categories. He helped lead SIU to the championship game of the MVC Tournament, batting .389 in the tournament.