2025 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award Winners
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team was the recipient of the 2025 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award, the organization announced Wednesday.
 
To be eligible for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award a program must have maintained a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale for the 2024-25 academic year.
 
Slippery Rock, which has posted a team GPA of at least 3.00 in each of the last 13 academic years, closed 2024-25 with a 13-year program high GPA of 3.275.
 
SRU was one of just three programs in the PSAC to obtain the award - along with California (Pa.) and Seton Hill - as well as one of 10 teams in the Atlantic Region to achieve the honor. Overall, 88 Division II teams were bestowed with the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award.
 
The Rock had 21 student-athletes – nearly 60 percent of its entire roster - maintain a GPA of at least 3.25 last year including Caelan Bender, Max Bernadowski, Steve Budash, Brandon Butler, Michael Cahill, Darryn Callahan, Ethan Edkins, Aari Fox, Andrew Frye, Gage Gillott, Gary Gubbings III, Robert Herr, Michael Kitko, Owen Malak, Treston Nemeth, Mason Raup, Cayden Robertson, Joey Vanzin, Kyle Warnsman, Clay Wiesen and Mark Wilbur.
 
Cahill and Warnsman both carry perfect 4.00 GPAs while Butler, Gillott, Kitko, Wiesen and Wilbur were named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
 
On the field, Slippery Rock completed its 2025 season with a 31-19 overall record. The Rock qualified for the PSAC Tournament for a third consecutive year after going 16-12 in the PSAC West. The 31 wins secured the 20th 30-win campaign under head coach Jeff Messer and represented the second highest victory total by the program over the last 16 years.
 
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/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.




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