The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) has announced that OLLU has been awarded the 2020-2021 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. Teams 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 2020-2021 academic year. The Saints baseball team earned a 3.10 GPA, marking the second consecutive year the men have won this award.

Head Coach Bryan Aughney commented, “I’m very proud of our players taking care of business in the classroom, as it is our top priority. Our job is to prepare these athletes for life after baseball and assist them in their college education. The players got it done on the field despite the COVID-19 challenges during the season. More importantly, the team excelled in academics by producing a combined GPA of over 3.0. We preach the importance of being a successful student-athlete and earning a degree.”

Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters prior to the nomination deadline of July 12. 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 2020-21 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-America 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.