ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Mount Union baseball team, guided by veteran head coach Paul Hesse, earned the 2025-26 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association, presented by Sports Attack.
 
This marks the eighth time (third straight year) that the Purple Raiders have earned this prestigious award since its inception in 2015-16. Mount Union also earned this team honor in 2024-25, 2023-24, 2021-22, 2020-21, 2019-20, 2018-19, and 2017-18. 
 
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 cumulative 2025-26 academic year.
 
Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters.