LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- New Mexico Baseball's Akili Carris was named the Mountain West Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Tuesday, making him the fifth Lobo men’s student-athlete to earn the league’s highest academic honor, joining Matthieu Amgward (tennis), Sean Murray (baseball), Lars Loseth (skiing/soccer), and Samir Iftikhar (tennis).
Carris and Murray are the only two baseball players in the history of the conference to earn Mountain West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Overall, Carris is the ninth Lobo, as UNM trails only Air Force, which has had 10 honorees. UNM’s five on the men’s side is the most in league history.
Carris was a four-year member of the Lobo baseball team and has been the starting third baseman for the past three seasons. He was originally planning to redshirt the 2024 season, but he was pressed into the starting lineup due to injuries and went on to hit over .300 in his final three seasons, starting 120 of 134 games.
Carris earned his undergraduate degree in business administration in just three years with a 4.00 GPA. Carris has also nearly completed his master’s in business administration while again achieving a perfect 4.00 GPA. The Summa Cum Laude grad was UNM’s Nusenda Credit Union Scholar-Athlete of the Month four times in his career.
He is a three-time Mountain West All-Academic selection and a four-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete. He also made the Dean’s List every semester during his time at UNM, and he was named All-Mountain West in 2026 after hitting .323 with three home runs and 42 RBIs as UNM advanced to the Mountain West Tournament, winning its first postseason game since 2017.
Outside the field and classroom, Carris created the UNM Child Life Volunteering Program, a system through which student-athletes from all UNM sports teams could visit the UNM Children’s Hospital and participate in the program. Carris coordinated all visits with hospital staff, hospital directors, and student-athletes.
He participated in and helped organize a toy drive for UNM Children’s Hospital, worked with Lowell Elementary School to set up a Halloween Haunted House and to serve Thanksgiving Lunch among several service projects.
Carris was the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President, a member of the Faculty Athletic Council as a grad student, and a member of the Stadium and South Campus Development Committee. He was also a student-athlete representative during the New Mexico State Legislature.
Carris is also member of the Greek National Baseball Team and the U23 Greek National Baseball Team.