Pirate Baseball Earns National Recognition for Academic Excellence

Pirate Baseball Earns National Recognition for Academic Excellence

The American Baseball Coaches Association is proud to recognize the nearly 700 member college and high school programs from across the country that have been awarded the 2021-22 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, which is presented by Sports Attack. VC achieved an overall grade point average of 3.30 for the entire 2021-22 academic year to earn recognition from the ABCA.

Ventura was one of 420 collegiate programs, 60 at the community college level and six from California, to be recognized by the ABCA.

The Pirates were led academically by four student athletes with perfect 4.0 GPA's for the academic year, including Gage Allen, Anthony Betancourt, Dawson Radik, Nick Schnopp and Connor Vogel. Other VC baseball players with a GPA of 3.5 or above for the year included Jonah Schaller, Matthew Panzica, Andrew Savage, Ewan Ferguson, Livio Bundi, KJ Moo-Young, Julien Monks, Reiss Calvin, Harun Pelja, Jake Read, Cooper Smith and Casey Turturici.

Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were honored with this year's award, which highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the entire 2021-22 academic year. Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters prior to the nomination deadline of July 14. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria:

  • Must be a high school or college team
  • Head coach must be a current ABCA member
  • Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2021-22 academic year

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.

About Sports Attack
Sports Attack was founded 1995 in Reno, NV, but our design and manufacturing folks pre-date the first wheel machines in the baseball industry, well over 50 years ago. With three active partners still heavily engaged, SA is proudly family-owned and operated. To say that we are manufacturers of quality sports training equipment just seems to not capture the essence of who we are. We do not just design our products; we explore, scrutinize, analyze and engineer our products. We do not just manufacture or assemble our equipment; we build each one from the ground up, by hand, the old-fashioned way. We view our suppliers through the lens of our mission statement, as a critical part of the design and development of our equipment. After fabrication and prior to shipment the equipment is tested thoroughly, every aspect of every unit. This ensures the product reliability on which our brand is built. Our process represents who we are; distinctive and exclusive design, detailed and quality manufacturing, resulting in innovative, highly effective training equipment. Our corporate integrity is a critical asset, and we are committed to upholding it worldwide. We set high standards and we abide by them as we practice business fairly and behave ethically. We wholeheartedly believe in, enthusiastically embrace and relentlessly pursue our company's mission. For more information, visit sportsattack.com.