TROY, N.Y. - The 2022 Academic All-District Softball and Baseball teams as selected by CoSIDA have been announced and two Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes are among those recognized. Seniors Erin Askins and Chris Grome have been selected to their respective District 3 squads and are now eligible for CoSIDA National Academic All-America consideration. Honorees are recognized as the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.

Askins (Tehachapi, CA / Tehachapi), who plays first base, batted .379 this season (50 for 132) with 15 doubles, three triples, two home runs, 41 runs scored and 37 RBIs. An All-Liberty League First Team selection, she compiled a .444 on-base percentage and a .583 slugging percentage, while going 3 for 4 on stolen base attempts. In 104 career games, including 101 as a starter, she hit .375 (118 for 315) with 33 doubles, seven triples, seven homers, 88 runs and 84 RBIs. A three-time All-Liberty League selection and two-time All-Region choice, she had a .442 on-base percentage and a .590 slugging percentage with 11 stolen bases.

The civil engineering major is a Dean's Honor List student who garnered Liberty League All-Academic recognition each year she was eligible. Askins is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) who spent two years as a student researcher on a project called GeoExplorer in which she created virtual geotechnical environments to perform field tests. For her efforts, she was the recipient of the Pickett T Simpson Prize in 2021. She is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers and she served as an instructor to calculus students as an iPersist mentor. Askins has interned with AECOM Engineering, Schnabel Engineering and NASA at its Armstrong Flight Research Center.

A Ph.D. student in nuclear engineering and sciences, Grome (Framingham, MA / Dexter Southfield School) is also a Dean's Honor List student who has participated in SAAC and collected Liberty League All-Academic certificates. He has earned a Rensselaer Leadership Award and has been involved with Sigma Gamma Tau, an Aerospace Engineering Honor Society, as well as Sigma Chi Fraternity. He has been a research assistant in the Sensing, Estimation, and Automation Laboratory on campus and the Nuclear Computing and Multiphysics (NuCoMP) Research Group. A summa cum laude aeronautical engineering undergraduate, Grome had internships with Collins Aerospace Hydro-Mechanical Systems, IMEG and Genzyme.

On the mound, the left hander made 10 appearances for the Engineers this season, including eight starts. He went 5-2 with a 3.96 earned run average, giving up 27 runs (23 earned) on 44 hits over 52.1 innings. The All-Liberty League First Team selection struck out a team-high 59 batters with 16 bases on balls, while allowing a .226 batting average to opposing hitters. In six conference starts, Grome went 3-2 with a 3.49 ERA, surrendering 30 hits in 38.2 innings. He struck out 37 and walked 11 with a .213 opponent average.

He finished his career with a 9-7 record and a 4.86 ERA. He struck out 133 batters over 126.1 innings and allowed a .262 opponent average.