The American Baseball Coaches Association recently announced that Bluffton University is one of just 217 college and high school programs to earn this year's ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were honored with the award, which recognizes teams coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the 2016-17 academic year.

"We are so excited for the opportunity to honor so many of our member coaches and their players with the Team Academic Excellence Award," said ABCA Executive Director Craig Keilitz. "With all that is expected of our student-athletes, acheiving a team GPA of 3.0 or above is truly an accomplishment. It is a testament to the leadership and commitment of our member coaches to developing their players into individuals who will be successful on and off the field."

In total, 217 programs were recognized with the 2016-17 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, including 59 teams from NCAA Div. III and just two from the Heartland Conference.

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 7. 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 2016-17 academic year. GPA may not be rounded up.

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.

Courtesy of the ABCA