MARSHALL, Texas – Along with an excellence season on the field, the East Texas Baptist University baseball team has had a great year in the classroom also. They have been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence award for the sixth straight year. ETBU was only one of six programs in all of Texas NCAA Division III to receive the award.
 
"We are extremely fortunate to have the type of players in our program that actively pursue excellence, not only on the field, but in the classroom as well," says head coach Jared Hood. "This is a group that won 29 games, led the ASC in All-Academic team selections, and has now received the Academic Excellence Award from the ABCA. I am extremely proud of our players and their commitment to excellence."

ETBU also led the American Southwest Conference in All-Academic team selections, again, with 29 and had three players voted onto the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.

To earn the ABCA Academic Excellence Award, teams must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average during the 2019-20 academic year, and their coach must be a member of the organization.

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-Region Awards, the ABCA/Diamond Sports Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.