LONG BEACH, Calif. --- The evolution of the utility role in baseball over the last decade has enabled players like Mark Stanford to get more recognition for the value they can bring to a team.

Just this past year, Stanford was a second team all-conference selection while earning Google Cloud Academic All-American First Team honors after playing corner-infield and outfield spots Long Beach City College. And he'll hope to build on that success as he joins Biola Baseball after playing with the Orange County Legends summerball team through July.

At time of writing, the Legends' website lists Stanford as carrying a six-game hitting streak while batting .333 with six RBI's.

Stanford joins an Eagles team that has found a lot of recent success with utility players, as Biola has taken First Team All-PacWest selections at utility player each of the past two years with Colton Worthington and Joey Magro. The transfer will also a former teammate at Biola in Brayden Englert after the two both attended Los Alamitos High School before Stanford spent his first two years of college at LBCC.

While playing for the Vikings, Stanford earned two CCCBCA Academic All-State selections, was named to the LBCC Dean's List with Great Distinction and garnered a nomination for the LBCC valedictorian after achieving a 4.0 GPA this past academic year. It was that great academic success, combined with a great sophomore year at the plate that resulted in 21 extra-base hits, 46 RBI's and 33 runs scored, that made Stanford worthy of being one of the six players around the country to earn Academic All-America College At-Large First Team honors.

That distinction is the most outstanding on Stanford's list of year-end accolades that also three All-Sunset League selections, two Press-Telegram Dream Team honorable mentions and an Academic Awards For Excellence for a 4.0 GPA while he was at Los Alamitos. He intends to major in business administration at Biola and hopes to own his own business someday.

And as he looked to transition to a four-year institution, Biola quickly proved to be a great place for his to pursue his business goals while continuing his personal development:

"From the moment I stepped on campus I fell in love with the school and its atmosphere," said Stanford. "I am excited to play baseball at Biola because I feel like it is a place where I can better myself as a player and as a person. "

Mark Stanford will join the Biola Eagles for their first season of NCAA postseason eligibility in 2020. More information about other incoming student-athletes can be found on the Committed Athletes page.