Alabama State was one of 580 high school, junior college and college programs recognized by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) for their work in the classroom.
The Hornets, the only member from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) on the list, were among the schools to receive the 2020-21 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award announced by the organization to close out the month of July. Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were honored with this year’s award, which highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the academic year.
A record 580 programs were recognized, including 200 high school and 380 collegiate programs.
Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters prior to the July 12 deadline. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria:
- Must be a high or college team,
- Head coach must be a current ABCA member, and
- Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2020-21 academic year.
Alabama State was one of 94 programs at the NCAA Division I level to earn the honor and one of three schools from the state of Alabama, joining Alabama and UAB. The award is the third consecutive for the baseball program, and they become the fifth Alabama State program this summer to earn academic recognition from their membership organization.