PHILADELPHIA – One day after being tabbed an East All-Region player by the ABCA/Rawlings, Chris Rotondo adds yet another accolade to his lengthy list, landing on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area team, as announced on Thursday.

This is the graduate's first honor from the organization in his career with Villanova after graduating in May with a graduate degree in Human Resources. He is one of 11 players selected through voting conducted by the sports information offices of 30 institutions in the Philadelphia Metropolitan area.

In order to be eligible for Academic All-Area honors, an athlete must be in at least his or her second year at the institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or better.

Rotondo has been lauded for his work in the classroom numerous times in his five seasons. He made the Athletic Director's Honor Roll six times in his career and has been a four-time BIG EAST All-Academic team selection.
This season, the Redding, Conn. native started in all 49 of Villanova's contests, leading the team with a .359 batting average that was the fourth-best in the BIG EAST. His 59 runs scored were tied for third in the league while he was fourth in total bases (126) slugging percentage (.656) and on-base percentage (.475). His three doubles in the season-finale against Creighton tied for the most in a single game in all of the BIG EAST this season. He led the team with 15 doubles, 12 home runs, 37 RBI, 32 walks and successfully stole base in 14 of his 17 attempts. He also had a team-high 18 games with multiple hits, five of those with at least three hits. In the field, he accounted for 120 putouts in 131 chances with a .962 fielding clip. Rotondo closed the season on a 24-game reached base streak, his longest of the season. He opened the campaign with a 20-game hitting streak, the longest in the last 20 years of Villanova Baseball, based on available records, and reached base in 50 games spanning this year and the 2021 season.

The first-team All-BIG EAST pick closed his career as one of the best all-around players in Villanova history, cementing his spot in the record book in numerous categories both for a single season and career. In a single season, he is tied for ninth-most home runs (12) and eighth-most total bases (126) and intentional walks (3). On the career side, he moved into a tie for the most triples (15), 10th for doubles (42) and walks (100) and 12th for runs (139), home runs (20), total bases (320) and hit by pitches (29).