Baseball | 7/29/2021 12:00:00 PM

    GREENSBORO, N.C. – The West Liberty University Baseball team has won the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Award for the 2020-21 season.
    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers were one of 76 NCAA Division II programs nationwide to meet the ABCA Team Academic Award criteria by maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher for the 2020-21 academic year.
    The Hilltoppers posted a cumulative GPA of 3.04 for the year, including a 3.07 GPA during the spring. More than half of Burkle's squad earned a GPA of 3.00 or higher with 17 at or above a 3.50 GPA.
    West Liberty was one of three Mountain East Conference squads to earn the award, joining Davis & Elkins and Fairmont State.
    The ABCA 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-America 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.