Three Big Green Named to Academic All-District I Baseball Team

HANOVER, N.H. — The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) today announced its Academic All-District Teams for baseball, and Dartmouth had three players selected for the District I squad — outfielder Kolton Freeman, first baseman/pitcher Justin Murray and pitcher Nathan Skinner. This is the largest group of Big Green baseball players to gain recognition on the Academic All-District I Team.

To be considered, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), have completed at least one full calendar year and reached sophomore athletic eligibility. The trio will now go on the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America consideration with the first-, second- and third-team honorees being announced next month.

Freeman, a junior from Laguna Beach, California, is an economics and government double major with a 3.36 GPA at Dartmouth and has started all but one game in the outfield this season. The 6-2, 210-pound product of Laguna Beach High is hitting .288 with a team-high eight home runs, eight doubles and 32 RBIs. He also leads the team with 24 walks for a .407 on-base percentage and has scored 34 runs, second on the Big Green. Twice he has hit two round-trippers in a game, most recently this past Sunday when he tied the game in the eighth with the first one and walked it off with a solo shot in the bottom of the 10th for a 3-2 victory over Manhattan.

A 6-0, 195-pound senior from Charlotte, North Carolina, Murray was named to the team as an infielder but has been a two-way player for head coach Bob Whalen all season. At the plate, the economics major with a 3.32 GPA is hitting .361 (sixth in the Ivy League with a league-leading 19 doubles, triple, four home runs, 29 runs and 28 RBIs. Those 19 doubles rank among the top 20 nationally, and on a per-game basis (0.51) he is second among Division I players. Murray has 16 multiple-hit games with a career-high four in a game against Princeton. On the mound, the right-hander is 4-3 with a 7.57 ERA over 52.1 innings with 43 strikeouts.

Skinner, a senior neuroscience major with a 3.60 GPA, has been Dartmouth's first starter in every conference weekend this season, producing a 5-4 record with a 5.92 ERA spanning 59.1 innings (fifth in the league) while striking out 44 batters. The 6-3, 210-pound native of Jacksonville, Florida, threw a seven-inning, four-hit shutout at Gardner-Webb early in the season and struck out a career-high 10 batters in another win over Brown, to go with victories against Yale, Princeton and Harvard. His five wins are tied for third in the Ivy League, and he leads the Ancient Eight in fewest walks issued per nine innings (1.82).

The 2021-22 Academic All-District Baseball Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-America program separately recognizes baseball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Schedules