Full Academic All-America Release
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois pitcher Garrett Acton was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team, the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America announced Thursday. Acton is Illinois' third first team selection in history and the first in 20 years.
Acton joins Jason Anderson (2000) and Wes Dixon (1971) as the only Academic All-American first teamers in Illinois baseball history. He is the sixth Academic All-American overall in program history.
Acton adds his biggest achievement to his already decorated resume. He is a two-time national leader in saves with 19 in 2019 and six in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, a 2019 NCBWA and Perfect Game/Rawlings First Team All-American, the 2019 NCBWA District Player of the Year, and one of six players in the nation named to the 2019 NCBWA Stopper of the Year finalist list. Acton is also the owner of Illinois' career and single-season saves records.
Acton has a 3.98 GPA as a finance major in the Gies College of Business, one of the top 10 public business schools in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report. He won Illinois Athletics' Junior GPA Award in 2019 and the Senior GPA Award in 2020 for the top GPA among student-athletes in his class, while pitching at an All-American level, before graduating in May.
Acton is the first First Team Academic All-America baseball student-athlete from any Big Ten team since 2011, when Michigan State center fielder Brandon Eckerle achieved the award.
Illinois Baseball - Academic All-Americans
2020 Garrett Acton (1st Team)
2015 Reid Roper (2nd Team)
2000 Jason Anderson (1st Team)
1994 Ken Crawford (3rd Team)
1982 Randy Conte (2nd Team)
1972 Wes Dixon (2nd Team)
1971 Wes Dixon (1st Team)
