BEREA, OHIO — Two Baldwin-Wallace College standout baseball student-athletes, senior second baseman Nate Luken (Dayton/ Chaminade Julienne) and junior centerfielder Cody Kidd (Wellington), have been named to the ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-District IV team. Both now qualify for the national ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-America ballot.

 

The ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-District IV team members qualify by having a minimum 3.2 grade point average and are a starter or key reserve. The team is voted upon by the Sports Information Directors in District IV which is comprised of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama.

 

Kidd earned the honor for the second straight season and moved up from the second-team in 2007 to the first-team this season. The biology and pre-med major who aspires to become a doctor batted .387 this season (60-of-155) with 34 runs scored, nine doubles, four triples, 26 runs batted-in and 14 stolen bases. He is both an All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC selection who is a member of the Dean’s List and Alpha Lambda Honor Society.

 

In three seasons at B-W, Kidd has compiled a .375 career batting average (122-of-325) with 91 runs scored, 13 doubles, eight triples, three homers, 52 RBI and 40 stolen bases. An outstanding defensive player, he has a .981 career fielding average with nine assists.

 

Luken earned the ESPN honor for the first time and was an Academic All-OAC player as a junior in 2007. This season, the criminal justice and pre-law major who intends to attend law school next fall had a career-high .348 batting average (36-of-112) with 20 runs scored, three doubles, 18 RBI and four stolen bases in four attempts. In the classroom, he carried a 3.912 grade average, is a Dean’s List student, a member of the Alpha Lambda, Chi Sigma Alpha, Dayton C. Miller and Pi Gamma Mu honor societies and received the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation Criminal Justice Award.

 

For his career, Luken batted .319 overall (70-of-235) with 42 runs scored, five doubles, 36 RBI, seven stolen bases and a fine .969 fielding average. He also is a member of the Pre-Law and Criminal Justice Club.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu.  To contact Head Coach Bob Fisher, please call him at 440-826-2182 or e-mail rfisher@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.