Greenville, SC – The NCCAA is pleased to recognize Kaden Dugle of Asbury University as the 2025 Hank Burbridge Award recipient for Baseball.  
 
Dugle is a graduate student at Asbury pursuing a degree in learning and behavior disorders, who is not only navigating a full baseball season, but is doing so while serving full-time as an elementary physical education teacher in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Despite all of Dugle’s success on the field, including recently breaking the school career home run record, his heart to serve kids is what stands out among those who know him. In addition to teaching and coaching, Dugle volunteers at a local baseball league in Lexington for disabled kids called Miracle League, and he runs an after-school program for fourth and fifth grade boys called Young Man’s Club.
 
With everything that Dugle does in his community, he uses it all to enrich his students and his teammates. The leader and captain of the Asbury baseball team serves his teammates and constantly gives 100% despite his schedule. Dugle ended his career at Asbury a few weeks ago with a school record of 26 home runs while hitting over .300 in his career. Dugle has a career fielding percentage of .970 as an infielder and is a player that has been incredibly reliable from the moment he stepped on campus. Dugle is a three-time NCCAA Mideast All-Regional Second Team member and has earned Asbury and NCCAA Scholar-Athlete honors three times each.
 
When asked about his time at Asbury, Dugle stated, “My time at Asbury has been the best years of my life. I have grown immensely as a baseball player, student, and a man. I am forever grateful to Coach Cervantes for bringing me to this brotherhood. It has been a rewarding journey.” 
 
Asbury Head Coach Manny Cervantes added, “Kaden is a natural born leader, seen in the classroom and on the field. It is very rare that a player of Kaden’s stature can balance a full-time job, being a full-time college baseball player, and be a full-time master’s student while also leading as a team captain. Kaden balances all these things daily while leading his team in almost every statistical category.”
 
Other Finalists
Joe Anderson, Maranatha Baptist University
TJ Curry, Malone University
 
Award Description
Hank Burbridge was the baseball coach at Spring Arbor University for 40 years and amassed a record of 1003 wins and 519 losses. Hank was named NCCAA District/Regional Coach of the Year twelve times, NCCAA National Coach of the Year on four occasions, and was inducted into the NCCAA Hall of Fame in 1993. His Cougar baseball teams won multiple NCCAA and NAIA District Championships and were crowned NCCAA National Champions in 1992, 1993, and 1998. Hank was a mentor and leader in NCCAA and NAIA baseball networks as well as within USA Baseball. He never missed an opportunity to share Christ or to encourage all who came in contact with him. The NCCAA is proud to present this award in recognition of Hank Burbridge’s legacy of service.