June 6, 2012

Complete Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team

Portions of this story courtesy of Dartmouth Athletics Communications

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Two Ivy League relievers were named to the 2012 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American team, selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, it was announced Wednesday.

Cornell freshman Kellen Urbon and Dartmouth freshman Thomas Olson were each recipients of the prestigious honor.

Urbon was unanimously voted Ivy League Rookie of The Year and first-team All-Ivy after a regular season in which he posted nine saves and a 0.50 ERA along with a 3-1 record. He struck out 21 batters in 35 2/3 innings over 21 appearances.

Two of Urbon’s victories came in the two biggest wins of the season for Cornell. He threw a career-best 6.1 innings in his team’s 4-3, 12-inning win over Princeton that catapulted the Big Red to the League Championship Series, and then pitched 5.0 innings in Cornell’s 3-1, 11-inning victory over Dartmouth that sent his team to its first NCAA Tournament since 1977.

A second-team All-Ivy selection, Olson posted a 1-4 record with six saves and a stellar 1.69 ERA over 37.1 innings. The rookie right-hander from Manhattan, Kan., surrendered 26 hits to hold the opposition to a .194 average, and walked just four batters while striking out 22. Olson posted a stretch of 21 scoreless innings during the season, and his six saves ranked second in the Ivy League. In addition, he did not walk a single batter over his final 21.2 innings on the mound.

Olson joins Brian Nickerson (1997), Mike Mileusnic (2000), Stephen Perry (2004), Kyle Hendricks (2009), Joe Sclafani (2009) and Chris O’Dowd (2010) as the Dartmouth players to be named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball.