HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team has again been honored with the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2019-20 academic year, the organization announced in a release on Tuesday afternoon.
The ABCA's Team Academic Excellence Award honors high school and college programs coached by ABCA members that maintain at least a 3.0 GPA throughout the academic year. Haverford was one of 107 Division III teams to be presented with the Team Academic Excellence Award. Haverford has achieved this recognition during each of the five years in which the award has been presented. The Fords were one of six Centennial Conference squads honored, joining Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, and Washington College in picking up the plaudit.
A record 419 college and high school programs submitted nominations and received this year's award. In total, 143 high school teams along with 276 programs from the NCAA Div. I, II, III, NAIA, and Junior College levels were recognized.
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 Sports Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.
The Fords logged a 7-5 record during a shortened 2020 campaign. Haverford won 20 games during the 2019 season and advanced to the Centennial Conference Championship series for the eighth time in program history. The Fords have made the conference tournament during 13 of its past 15 iterations and have brought home the conference title on three occasions (2012, 2014, and 2016).