The American Baseball Coaches Association recently recognized the nearly 700 member college and high school programs from across the country that have been awarded the 2021-22 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. ,
Eight Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) baseball programs 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 entire 2021-22 academic year.
More than 420 collegiate programs were recognized with this year’s award which includes NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA teams. Included in this year’s list from HBCUs:
NCAA Division I
Alabama A&M University
Alabama State University
Bethune-Cookman University
Coppin State University
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
NCAA Division II
Benedict College
Kentucky State University
Virginia State University
NAIA
No HBCU NAIAs made the list.
Coaches nominate teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their 2022 seasons. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria:
Must be a high school or college team
Head coach must be a current ABCA member
Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2021-22 academic year
The American Baseball Coaches Association has a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of baseball coaches and student-athletes. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America Teams are the nation’s oldest, founded in 1949, and the ABCA’s awards program also includes the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Awards, the ABCA/ATEC Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.
2021-22 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award Recipients: