PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Four American Athletic Conference teams earned the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)
Team Academic Excellence Award, as announced by the organization Wednesday. ECU, Memphis, Tulane and Wichita State were four of 48 NCAA Division I programs to earn the honor.
This year’s conference champion ECU led the league in the classroom with a 3.47 team GPA. The Pirates have held a 3.05 or higher GPA in seven of its past eight semesters.
Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were recognized with this year's award, which highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the entire 2017-18 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.