Belmont Baseball Receives 2023-24 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – – Belmont Baseball has been recognized for earning the 2023-24 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award, presented by Sports Attack.

The award honors high school and college programs coached by ABCA members who posted a grade-point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the cumulative 2023-24 academic year.

Belmont, having wrapped up their second year in the Missouri Valley Conference, is recognized for their academic success for the fourth straight year.

The Bruins posted a 3.63 team cumulative GPA during the Spring 2024 semester.

Several players received individual academic accolades. Brodey Heaton, Jack Rando and Joe Ruzicka were named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team, and Heaton was named the 2024 MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The trio, Blake Barton and Will Pryor were named to the College Sports Communications Academic All-District Team.

The Bruins are honored alongside five other MVC programs: Bradley, UIC, Murray State, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso.

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.