AZUSA, Calif. -- The Azusa Pacific baseball team earned the American Baseball Coaches Association Team Academic Excellence Award for the third consecutive season, qualifying for the award after posting a cumulative team GPA of at least 3.0 for the 2017-18 academic year.

Azusa Pacific is one of only two NCAA Division II programs from the West Region to claim the award each of the last three years. The Cougars were one of 36 NCAA Division II programs, and one of six from the West Region, to pick up the 2017-18 honor.

"It is certainly an honor to receive recognition as one of the top academic Division II baseball programs from an outstanding coaches association," Azusa Pacific head coach Paul Svagdis said. "It is great to see our athletes' hard work pay off not just on the diamond, but more importantly in the classroom and in life. This honor is a terrific reflection of what it means to be a Cougar baseball player."

The Cougar baseball team was one of four Azusa Pacific teams to lead the conference in the total number of Academic All-PacWest recipients for their sport, with baseball producing 25 Academic All-PacWest honorees. In addition, senior outfielder Sean Aspinall received 2017-18 PacWest Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Google Cloud Academic All-America® third team honors.