NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team set a team grade-point average (GPA) record for the third-consecutive semester this fall, Illinois State head baseball coach Bo Durkac announced Monday.
The baseball team posted a combined team GPA of 3.23, breaking the old record of 3.17, set last spring. Playing leading roles in Illinois State baseball's record GPA were 28 players who earned AFNI Academic Honor Roll status, six of whom posted perfect 4.00 GPAs.
"I would like to thank Associate Athletics Director of Academics and Life Skills Dr. Paul Downey for his guidance and leadership at the Karin L. Bone Academic Study Center, and academic advisor Patrick McNulty for helping our players meet the NCAA's progress-toward-degree requirements," Durkac said. "But Assistant Director of Academics and Life Skills Joe Klausner deserves the bulk of the credit because of his day-to-day interaction with our baseball players. He is truly invested in our players' academic progress, and just as we coaches enjoy watching our players succeed on the field, Joe takes a lot of pride in seeing our players achieve at a high level in the classroom."
The Illinois State baseball team will try to break its in-season GPA record of 3.17 when it begins the spring semester in January. The Redbirds begin their 2016 season Feb. 19-21 at Belmont, in Nashville, Tennessee.
"I stress to our players all the time that academic performance and on-field performance are interrelated, and that in my experience very, very few lousy students become high-end players," Durkac said. "This group paid attention to that message and I am very proud of their collective effort in the classroom this fall. We had twice as many players earn a 4.00 GPA (six) than end up under a 2.50 GPA (three) this semester, and I expect us to continue to be a high-achieving team academically each semester."
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