7/7/17
DAHLONEGA – University of North Georgia baseball coach Tom Cantrell has been honored as the 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) / Diamond NCAA Division II Southeast Region Coach of the Year as announced by the association on its annual year-end awards list.
In his 18th season at the helm of the Nighthawk baseball program, Cantrell led North Georgia baseball to new heights as the 2017 season set the standard with the program’s second conference championship in the last three seasons, first-ever No. 1 national ranking, most wins in the NCAA-era (46) and the school’s first-ever regional title.
The year culminated with the program’s first-ever NCAA Southeast Regional championship and berth in the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Earlier in the year, Cantrell was tabbed the PBC Coach of the Year, marking the sixth time that the veteran skipper has earned his league’s top coaching honor. His first came in 1998 when he was named GJCAA Coach of the Year after guiding Georgia Perimeter to the JUCO World Series. The 2015 Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame inductee also earned the honor in 2001, 2003, 2007 (PBC) and 2015 (PBC).
UNG was ranked in the Collegiate Baseball’s top 10 every week of the regular season, highlighted by the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking on March 20.
The Regional and National Coaches of the Year will be honored at the ABCA/Diamond Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet on Jan. 5, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana, as part of the 74th annual ABCA Convention.
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 8,200 members represent all 50 states and 23 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, the association’s annual awards program has grown to include nine divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA Division I, II, III, Pacific Association Division and High School.
