Clinton Freeman

Classroom

Freeman is a history major and has done well in the classroom during his three-plus years at East Tennessee State University.

Character

Freeman is a strong leader both on and off the field for the Buccaneers. Being a local product, Freeman is the face of the ETSU baseball team and his play has helped guide the Bucs to the 2013 Atlantic Sun Championship, resulting in ETSU’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1981. He is willing to do whatever it takes to help his team as he is a two-way player and has made starts on the mound while also coming out of the bullpen to close out games for the Bucs. He leads by example as he started in 126 consecutive games for the Bucs - a streak that dates back to the start of his sophomore season. He is the captain of the team and is willing to help out his teammates or any other ETSU student or student-athlete when they are in need. He goes all-out on every play and doesn’t take a day off whether it’s on game day or in practice. He makes everyone around him better by his strong play and picks up his teammates whenever necessary.

Community

Clinton is very active in the community and in his local church (Cherry Grove Baptist Church). In August of 2012, Clinton helped his community with Cherry Grove Baptist Church as the area was affected by a flood, so Clinton helped by restoring homes, cleaned up the community, and his family housed a man who lost his home during flood for 10 weeks. At ETSU, Clinton and the Buccaneer baseball team played a large role in ETSU’s “A Buccaneer Christmas” community service event, which is tied to Coalition for Kids, as children from around the Johnson City community were able to enjoy a night full of activities, including meeting Santa, decorating Christmas cookies, opening gifts, and interacting with ETSU student-athletes. Clinton also makes visits to the local Niswonger Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House to meet with the children and put smiles on their faces. Clinton also makes trips to local elementary schools to read books to the students.

Competition

In the preseason of 2014, Freeman was named Louisville Slugger First Team All-America and A-Sun Pitcher of Year by Collegiate Baseball. In 2013, Freeman earned CollegeBaseballInsider.com/Louisville Slugger All-America accolades, while also being tabbed second team All-Atlantic Sun. He also led the Buccaneers in nearly every offensive category, and was one of 25 players placed on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. Led the Bucs in batting average (.335), hits (80), doubles (18), triples (4), home runs (10), RBI (57), and slugging percentage (.569). On the mound, the left-hander went 7-1 with a 3.04 ERA (19 ER/56.1 IP) and eight saves in 25 appearances (three starts). In 22 relief appearances, the southpaw went 6-0 with a 0.65 ERA (3 ER/41.1 IP) and converted on all eight of his save opportunities. Those numbers also placed him among the conference leaders as the Jonesborough, Tenn. native ranked second in slugging percentage, tied for second in home runs, ranked third in RBI, tied for third in triples, tied for fourth in doubles, tied for sixth in hits, and ranked ninth in batting average. Furthermore, his eight saves were the second-most by an A-Sun closer, while he tied for league lead in games finished at 21. He also landed Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week and Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honors after hitting .800 (8-10) with a double, triple, three home runs, five RBIs, seven runs scored and three walks.