GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Fort Hays State baseball team earned the 2025-26 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award for its performance in the classroom, announced Wednesday (July 22) by the coaches association.
The squad posted a team GPA of 3.147 over the most recent academic year. The Tigers had 25 student-athletes named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll this season, three of which earned additional recognition from the conference.
Kole Klaassen received the MIAA Academic Excellence Award for maintaining a perfect 4.00 GPA while
Brandon Chavez and
Derek Woolwine both received the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award for holding a GPA of 3.50 or better and earning All-MIAA honors on the field. In addition, Woolwine,
Brett Jacobs and
Tucker Russell were all named CSC Academic All-District picks.
Additional Tigers named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll included
Sean Amarante,
Karter Beving,
Aaron Boutz,
Mac Bowie,
Caiden Bowman,
Caleb Camp,
Bret Deegan,
Tytin Goebel,
Brock Griffin,
Dylan Haselhorst,
Gehrig Heckathorn,
Tyson Jimenez,
Kole Klaassen,
Jack Laird,
Josh McWilliams,
Tony Moore,
Evan Piwowarski,
Eli Rose,
Tucker Russell,
Dylan Salcido,
Jaxon Schleper and
Burke Sharpsteen.
This is the second year in a row the team has earned the award and the third all-time. FHSU was one of five MIAA programs to earn the distinction this season.
The award, presented by Sports Attack, recognizes ABCA member teams from all levels of high school and collegiate baseball that achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale during the 2025-26 academic year. Nearly 500 college programs and more than 320 high school programs were recognized for their outstanding academic achievement this year.
