Northwestern State’s Daunte Stuart named Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine

NATCHITOCHES – Daunte Stuart enjoyed several firsts during the 2021 baseball season.

Stuart, Northwestern State’s freshman second baseman, tallied another Wednesday morning, earning Freshman All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball magazine. Stuart is the first position player in Demons history to earn such acclaim.

A product of The Woodlands, Texas, Stuart led Northwestern State qualifying hitters in all three Triple Crown categories, batting .270 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs. His seven home runs were the most by a Demon freshman in the BBCOR era.

Stuart, who saw his true freshman season ended after 16 games by the COVID-19 pandemic, drew a Southland Conference-high 44 walks in 2020, the sixth-most in school single-season history. Entering the Super Regionals, Stuart’s 44 walks rank 30th nationally while his 0.85 walks per game rank 36th in the country.

His 10-game hitting streak from Feb. 21-March 12 was the longest put together by a Demon this season and included a stretch where Stuart homered four times in a span of six games – all at Brown-Stroud Field.

A second-team All-Southland Conference selection, Stuart is the sixth Demon to earn Freshman All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball Magazine and gives NSU a selection for the second straight season. A year ago, right-handed pitcher Johnathan Harmon was named to the Freshman All-American team.

Stuart joins Harmon and four other right-handed pitchers – Kyle Broughton (2005), Dereck Cloeren (2005), Chad Sheppard (2009) and Adam Oller (2014) – as Freshman All-American honorees in NSU history.