NOTRE DAME, Indiana — After a strong season on the field during the 2020 season, the Irish continued that success in the classroom. The Notre Dame baseball program was honored with the 2019-20 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, the organization announced on Wednesday.
“I am very proud of our players’ performance in what was a very challenging environment,” said head coach Link Jarrett. “Academic demand is extremely high to begin with, add in the first ever transition to online classes at Notre Dame, it was phenomenal. Nick Mainieri guided our players and we would not have achieved at this level without his efforts.”
Notre Dame earned the award for the first time since it was created during the 2015-16 season. The Irish were one of 65 Division I programs recognized and just one of five ACC programs to be honored. The Irish were joined by Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville and North Carolina.
This is the fifth-straight year that a Link Jarrett coached team has earned the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. While at UNCG, Jarrett’s squad was honored each year since the award began in 2015-16.
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 entire 2019-20 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. 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 2019-20 academic year (Due to some schools changing to Pass/Fail grading, spring semester grades were not required to be included in the cumulative calculation).
Division I Honorees
Abilene Christian University (TX)
Alabama State University
Arkansas State University
Ball State University (IN)
Baylor University (TX)
Boise State University (ID)
Bradley University (IL)
Bryant University (RI)
Butler University (IN)
Campbell University (NC)
Central Michigan University
Coastal Carolina University (SC)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
College of William & Mary (VA)
Coppin State University (MD)
Davidson College (NC)
Duke University (NC)
East Carolina University (NC)
Eastern Kentucky University
Florida Atlantic University
Gardner-Webb University (NC)
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Tech
Harvard University (MA)
Hofstra University (NY)
Indiana State University
Lafayette College (PA)
Long Island University (NY)
Longwood University (VA)
McNeese State University (LA)
Mercer University (GA)
Michigan State University
North Carolina Central University
Northern Illinois University
Ohio State University
Oklahoma State University
Old Dominion University (VA)
Oregon State University
Presbyterian College (SC)
Radford University (VA)
Saint Joseph’s University (PA)
Samford University (AL)
St. John’s University (NY)
The Citadel (SC)
Tulane University (LA)
UNC Wilmington
University of Alabama – Birmingham
University of Cincinnati (OH)
University of Hartford (CT)
University of Illinois
University of Kentucky
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisville (KY)
University of Memphis (TN)
University of Missouri
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame (IN)
University of Portland (OR)
University of South Florida
UNLV
Western Michigan University
Wichita State University (KS)
Winthrop University (NC)
Wright State University (OH)
Youngstown State University (OH)
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