Utah Tech has done really well as a university in the D-1 era academically.

Baseball had another great year in that regard.

Here's the press release from UT Athletics Media Relations: (link to full story)

The Utah Tech University baseball program was honored for its exemplary work in the classroom as a recipient of the 2023-24 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award, presented by SportsAttack on Wednesday.

The Trailblazer program was one of near 500 collegiate programs from across the country to be presented with the annual ABCA award. The award highlights programs coached by ABCA member institutions that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale during the 2023-24 academic year.

This past year, Utah Tech baseball posted its highest GPA in the program's brief NCAA Division I era with a 3.35 cumulative GPA. It marked the sixth-straight season that the Trailblazers had recorded at least a 3.06 overall cumulative GPA.

Meanwhile, this year's GPA was the second-highest mark over that six-year stretch, bested only by a 3.410 average posted during the program's final NCAA Division II season in 2019-20.

This past season, Utah Tech baseball placed 21 student-athletes on the 2023-24 Academic All-Western Athletic Conference spring sports award list, which was the second-highest baseball team total in the WAC overall.

In addition, senior catcher Hank Dodson, junior outfielder Hunter Katschke, and junior pitchers Carston HermanKy Decker and Matt Nelson, were all named to the 2023-24 College Sports Communicators Division I Academic All-District® Baseball team.

Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were honored with this year's award, which highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the cumulative 2023-24 academic year.

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 11th. 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 for the 2023-24 academic year

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/ATEC Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.

About the ABCA
Founded in 1945, the American Baseball Coaches Association is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 15,000 members represent all 50 states and 41 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association members have broadened to include nine divisions: NCAA Division I, II, and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School, Youth and Travel.

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