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Pearl River baseball standouts Graham Crawford (Hattiesburg; Sumrall) and Landon Gartman (Bogue Chitto; Enterprise) have been recognized with several awards for their performance on the field this season and now have been awarded for their work in the classroom after earning CoSIDA Academic All-America Selections.

In the Men’s At-Large College Division, Crawford was selected as CoSIDA Academic All-America Team Member of the Year and Gartman was selected as a First-Team Academic All-America.

The college division includes two-year institutions, Canadian institutions and any United States four-year institutions that are not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA.

“Coach Avalon has pushed our entire team,” Crawford said. “He’s always said that academics come first and if you can’t do it in the classroom, you can’t do it on the field. He always said that his dad instilled in him that the hardest thing to do in life is to have pride in everything that you do, and I always try to have pride in everything.”

Crawford earned the award after finishing the year with a 3.91 GPA as a business law major.

The award is one of many that the catcher has claimed during the offseason after earning NJCAA Third-Team All-America, First-Team All-MACCC, All-Region 23 Team and Academic All-MACCC.

Crawford finished his sophomore season at Pearl River with a .485 on-base percentage and 35 walks which were both first on the team. He finished second on the team in homers (15), hits (48) and RBIs (49).

Gartman earns a First-Team Academic All-America selection after holding a 3.6 GPA as a business major.

“This is probably my first big academic honor,” Gartman said. “It’s a special thing to me because I always try my absolute hardest in school. It’s a great way to end my time at Pearl River.”

Gartman had a phenomenal season as the leader of the Wildcat pitching staff, finishing with a perfect 9-0 record in 12 games. He led Pearl River in strikeouts (81), strikeouts per nine innings (12.15) and ERA (1.95).

He also was able to add numerous trophies to his collection, claiming NJCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year, MACCC Pitcher of the Year, First-Team NJCAA All-America and NJCAA All-Region 23.

Crawford and Gartman are the second and third CoSIDA All-America selections for Pearl River after Ronald Baker earned the honor last year.

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