Mount Paran, Pope baseball teams recognized for academic excellence

Mount Paran Christian and Pope were among 700 college and high school programs awarded with the American Baseball Coaches Association’s 2022 Team Academic Excellence Award.

To be honored, teams needed to meet three criteria — it must be a high school or college, the head coach must be a current member of the ABCA and the team must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the 2021-22 academic year.

Pope coach Chris Turco said his coaching staff encourages the players to work hard in the classroom.

“We tell our guys, ‘You’re student-athletes first,’ and obviously, we strive to get it done in the classroom, and our kids take care of business in the classroom,” Turco said.

Turco said the award was a testament not just to the players but also to their parents and teachers.

“I think a lot of it starts at home for our kids,” Turco said. “Their parents have high expectations for them academically, and going to Pope High School, it’s a great school. I think the teachers here do an unbelievable job of looking out for anyone who might be struggling, so I don’t think it’s just the baseball staff. It’s Pope High School in general, and the families as well putting a huge emphasis on academic success.”

Mount Paran coach Kyle Reese said the award means a lot to the athletic department and the school as a whole.

“It means a tone for the athletic department because of what they stress as far as student-athletes, but I think more than that it means a lot to the school,” Reese said. “The majority of the kids on our varsity baseball team have been at Mount Paran before high school, so it’s a credit to our lower school program and our middle school program, as well as our high school teachers.”

Reese said the way his players deal with balancing athletics and academics impresses him, particularly in the spring.

“It’s tough because spring is such a busy time of year,” Reese said. “You’ve got final exams. We had exams in the middle of the state playoffs this year, so going down to Pacelli in the elite eight, we had a couple of guys that had final exams that morning, and their parents brought them down, so it’s huge.”