HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College baseball team has earned the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence award, the coaches organization announced in a release late last week. Haverford was one of 146 Division III programs to earn the award this year and the program has picked up the designation in each season it has been awarded, dating back to the 2015-16 campaign.
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. The ABCA 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 all-region, coaches of the year, and several other major awards.
The American Baseball Coaches Association, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its nearly 13,000 members represent all 50 states and 33 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth.
Earlier this year, the Fords placed a conference-best 15 team members on the Centennial Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll as Zach Becker, Oliver Bergeron, Zach Crampton, Ryan Giovenco, Andrew Johnson, Eric Kopczynski, Garrett Melby, Mitchell Pagano, Thomas Primosch, Matt Sabitsky, Jordan Shand, Luke Smith, Ben Somorjai, Will Vostrejs and August Williams were all honored for academic excellence.