BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — After rallying to win the 2017 Mid-South Conference baseball regular season, the Tigers have nine athletes named First or Second-Team All-Conference and another three named Gold Glove winners at their respective positions.
 
 Matthew Valdez, Romello Carbuccia, Nick Przybylek, Indalecio Romo and DJ Wilson all earned First-Team honors, while Riley Joyce, David Montoya, Carlos Garmendia and Jared Welander were Second-Team selections.
 
Valdez and Carbuccia have been steady all year for CU. Carbuccia is hitting .308 with a team-high six home runs and 40 runs scored. He boasts the second-highest on-base-percentage - .411  – right behind Valdez at .422. Carbccia also is fourth on the team with 25 RBIs.
 
Valdez earned First-Team honors by hitting .307 and finishing the regular season third on the team with 25 RBIs. Carbuccia and Valdez also combined to steal 22-of-27 bases this year. The duo also had 11 doubles a piece, while Carbuccia led the team with a slugging percentage of .508

Valdez was also earned Gold Glove honors at shortstop after showing he is arguably the best middle infielder to come through the program. With only 13 errors on 230 chances, Valdez finished the year with a .943 fielding percentage and turned 52 double plays with fellow middle infielder David Montoya.
 
Przybylek and Romo showed why they were the Tigers' top two pitchers after shutting down University of the Cumberlands last week to win the MSC regular season title – the teams eighth and third-straight. Przybylek, who also earned First-Team honors last year, owns a 3.69 ERA and 6-3 overall record in 11 starts. He tossed the most innings on the team with 75.2 and struck out a team-high 71.
 
Romo battled back from Tommy John Surgery and made himself back into one of the best pitchers in the Mid-South. He appeared in seven games, starting six, and finishing with a 2.02 ERA and 3-1 record. After coming back midway through the year, Romo tossed 35.2 innings, struck out 20 and opponents hit .210 off the Ures, Mexico product.
 
Lastly, DJ Wilson had a stellar year out of the bullpen. Tying Jared Welander with most appearances (17), Wilson was the bullpen arm coach Beauford Sanders went to when the Tigers needed to get out of a jam. Wilson delivered a 5-2 record and 2.17 ERA, while tossing 45.2 innings and held opponents to a .200 batting average.
 
On the second-team, newcomers David Montoya, Carlos Garmendia and Jared Welander had solid seasons. Returning catcher Riley Joyce also proved to be one of the best backstops.
 
Montoya hit .294 on the year from the leadoff positions and set the tone with a .366 on-base-percentage. Starting in 44 games at second base, he also earned Gold Glove honors. Garmendia, a mid-year transfers, made huge strides late in the year and upped her average to .297 with two home runs and 19 RBIs. He also was one of the three Tigers to have an on-base-percentage above .400 at .401 and slugged a team-high 16 doubles to push his slugging percentage to .483.
 
One of the biggest moves Coach Sanders made all season was moving Reynoso from behind the plate as the No. 2 catcher to first base. Never played to corner position before, Reynoso won the Gold Glove with a fielder percentage of .994 and only committing two errors all season. In addition to his Gold Glove award, he hit .311 with one home run and 22 RBIs.

On the mound, Jared Welander was a solid, hard-throwing lefty out of the bullpen for CU. Welander finished with a 2-2 record but was fantastic in late-inning situations by striking out 45 batters in 35.1 innings. He finished the regular season with a 2.80 ERA.
 
Riley Joyce started slow but upped his average to .286 and was also named Second-Team All-Conference. Joyce, who normally hit in the nine-hole, drove in 10 runs but made his presence known behind the plate. Joyce helped lead a pitching staff to a 3.51 team-ERA and .250 opponent batting average.
 
The Mid-South Conference Tournament gets underway this week at various host sites around the state. Since the Tigers won the regular season and only seven teams are in the MSC in baseball, CU earns a bye to the final site at Bowling Green Ball Park in Bowling Green, Ky. for the final four.
 
CU does have two final regular season home games on Friday starting at 1 p.m. ET vs. Midway University.