GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team earned recognition for their efforts in the classroom as they received the American Baseball Coaches Association's (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award.
The ABCA Academic Excellence Award honors high school and college programs coached by ABCA members that post a cumulative Grade Point Average over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the current academic year.
The NSIC had six teams earn the award as Augustana, Minnesota State, Northern State, Upper Iowa and Winona State joined the Golden Bears in reaching the mark.
Criteria for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award include:
- Must be a high school or college team
- Head coach must be a current ABCA member
- Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale during the 2019-20 academic year (see form for details regarding 2020 academic interruptions). GPA may not be rounded up.
"In light of the challenges faced by so many programs across the country, we are humbled to be able to honor a record number of teams for their outstanding academic achievements," said ABCA Executive Director Craig Keilitz. "It is a testament to the leadership of our member coaches and the commitment of their student-athletes who persevered during an unprecedented 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/Diamond 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.
