BOSTON – Suffolk baseball was rewarded for its academic accomplishments for the fourth time in as many years as the Rams earned American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award distinction for 2019-20, the national organization announced.
Suffolk is one of over 400 programs from amongst all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, junior college and the high school ranks to garner the academic accomplishment. In total 421 programs were recognized, 108 of which were NCAA Division III teams, including two Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) institutions in the Rams and Saint Joseph's (Maine). The blue-and-gold was also just one of two squads from the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), the league Suffolk is switching too for 2021, to make the list with Salve Regina also earning the distinction. For a full list of honorees, click here.
In order to be considered for the plaudit, a team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale over the entire 2019-20 academic year and the head coach must be a current ABCA member.
As a team, Anthony Del Prete's 29-player roster combined for a 3.228 GPA over a non-traditional season in which its playing days were cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ABCA has a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of baseball coaches and student-athletes. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America Team 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.