If he’s not looking for baseball as a career choice (which may or not be an option depending upon his performance/talent/projectability), it is probably easier to be more “studently” in an academic D III.
It is the rare D I program which will allow the player to attend a lab instead of a practice; it is the rare D I where a player has a science/engineering/math major making up more than a miniscule percentage of players (there are significant exceptions like the Ivies, Patriot Conference, Davidson, etc.).
Please don’t bombard me with stats that show that Rice and VTech, for example, are fine schools – they are – but look at the majors of the juniors and seniors on those teams (on the D III teams also). Those majors reflect what baseball players at D I scholarship programs major in – do not look at the majors of the freshman and sophs – those majors are wishes, dreams, and desires (which will evolve as reality sets in – the reality of 40 hours a week devoted to baseball). The player should ask himself: “Do I want one of these majors?” That answer may well dictate a path.
If you are truly a devoted student, go to where your peers are motivated students; if you are devoted to giving professional baseball a shot, go to where your peers are similarly motivated.
Not one size fits all; there are many ways to skin a cat. The more information you gather the more variables can be identified and quantified -- with no sure result on either path.