HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford Baseball program was awarded an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2016-17 academic year, the organization announced in a release earlier this week.
In total, 214 programs were recognized with the 2016-17 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, including 58 teams from NCAA Division III institutions. The Fords joined Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins as Centennial Conference members receiving the honor this season.
In order to be eligible to receive the plaudit, a team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2016-17 academic year and the head coach must be a current ABCA member.
Haverford finished another succesful campaign with in 2017 as the Fords qualified for the Centennial Conference tournament for the 10th straight season and the 12th time in 13 seasons. Haverford reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in eight campaigns.
The Fords were amongst the most aggressive programs on the base paths all season, swiping three bases per contest, the second best mark in Division III. Displaying power up and down the lineup, the Fords 1.05 home runs per game was seventh in the nation.
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 Ethics in Coaching Award.
The ABCA previously recognized sophomore Ethan Lee-Tyson and junior Ben Furlong with All-Mid Atlantic Region honors last month.