MSU Baseball Garners ABCA Team Academic Excellence Recognition For Ninth-Consecutive Year

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was recognized with the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award for the ninth-straight year.

The American Baseball Coaches Association recognized nearly 750 member high school and college programs nationwide that have earned the 2024-25 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, presented by Sports Attack. This award recognizes ABCA member teams from all levels of high school and collegiate baseball that achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale during the 2024-25 academic year.

More than 440 college programs and 300 high school programs were recognized with this year's award.

"It's a tremendous honor to earn the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award for the ninth-straight year," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "It's an extra feather in our cap to be the only Big Ten team to have won this award the last nine years. Our players are dedicated in putting in all the hard work both on the field and in the classroom, continuing to fully define the term student-athlete, in all aspects and everything it takes to be successful. Once again, it's a great deal of credit goes to our academic advisor Melissa Tallant, she always gets the most out of our guys, and we're very appreciative of her hard work with them."

Michigan State was one of six Big Ten teams on the 109-team Division I list, with MSU the only team to have been on each of the last nine years.

"It's an honor to work with this outstanding group of baseball players and coaches," associate director of MSU Student-Athlete Support Services Melissa Tallant said. "Our program continues to strive for excellence on the field and in the classroom. To earn this award for the ninth year in a row is a great sense of pride for these student-athletes since they don't want to be the group that the streak stops with. So between the success and the streak, they have plenty of motivations to continued their commitment of working as hard as they can in the classroom to accomplish that success. I'm always proud of them for continuing their diligence to reaching this goal for the ninth year in a row."

There were not any B1G teams in 2016, before the Spartans were joined by Minnesota in 2017, then MSU was the lone conference team in both 2018 and 2019. Illinois and Ohio State joined MSU on the 2020 season list, then Michigan State was joined by Illinois and Rutgers for the 2020-21 season. The 2022 season saw six teams, with Michigan State joined by Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Rutgers, before the 2023 season's six teams with Michigan State being joined by Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue. In 2024, MSU is joined by Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue. This season, Michigan State was joined by Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue and league newcomer Washington.

B1G Teams Receiving ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award
2015-16 - None
2016-17 - Michigan State, Minnesota
2017-18 - Michigan State
2018-19 - Michigan State
2019-20 - Michigan State, Illinois, Ohio State
2020-21 - Michigan State, Illinois, Rutgers
2021-22 - Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers
2022-23 - Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue
2023-24 - Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue
2024-25 - Michigan State, Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Washington

MSU Baseball Garners ABCA Team Academic Excellence Recognition For Ninth-Consecutive Year

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