Photo by: Kaylee Kahn
Cardenas Earns NCBWA All-America, ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Accolades
6/11/2026 1:50:00 PM | Baseball
DALLAS - Abilene Christian baseball's Diego Cardenas was named a Second Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, the organization announced Wednesday. The designated hitter also added American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Central All-Region First Team honors on Tuesday.
Cardenas became the second NCBWA Division I All-American in program history, joining Third Team selection Luis Trevino in 2019. He received ABCA All-Region recognition for the second year in a row following a historic campaign with the Wildcats in which he established ACU's DI season record with 69 RBIs and tied for the most home runs with 25.
An All-WAC First Team honoree, Cardenas is one of three representatives from the Western Athletic Conference on the NCBWA All-America Team. He's one of five WAC student-athletes to earn All-Region distinction. As a First Team All-Region selection, he is eligible to be named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America Team, which will be released Friday ahead of the start of the College World Series.
The El Paso, Texas product started each of the Wildcats' 57 games at designated hitter and established himself as one of the top sluggers in the conference. Cardenas led the WAC in home runs, runs batted in, extra-base hits (43) and slugging percentage (.727). His 25 long balls tied for eighth in the nation, while his RBIs were a top-25 mark.
Cardenas' 55 runs scored, 18 doubles and 38 walks are each top-10 marks in ACU's DI record book. He collected 72 hits at a .317 clip with an 1.148 OPS that ranked second in the WAC. In conference play, Cardenas tied to pace the WAC with nine home runs and 22 runs scored.
Cardenas led the Wildcats with 16 multi-RBI games and was second with 20 multi-hit performances and 14 efforts with multiple runs scored. He hit two home runs on seven occasions.
In just two seasons at ACU, Cardenas' 44 home runs are second in team history, while his 136 RBIs rank fourth in the DI era. His .712 slugging percentage tops the program leaderboard, and his .324 batting average and .443 on-base percentage rank in the DI top 10. Cardenas' 32 doubles and 75 walks are also top-10 marks.
Cardenas became the second NCBWA Division I All-American in program history, joining Third Team selection Luis Trevino in 2019. He received ABCA All-Region recognition for the second year in a row following a historic campaign with the Wildcats in which he established ACU's DI season record with 69 RBIs and tied for the most home runs with 25.
An All-WAC First Team honoree, Cardenas is one of three representatives from the Western Athletic Conference on the NCBWA All-America Team. He's one of five WAC student-athletes to earn All-Region distinction. As a First Team All-Region selection, he is eligible to be named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America Team, which will be released Friday ahead of the start of the College World Series.
The El Paso, Texas product started each of the Wildcats' 57 games at designated hitter and established himself as one of the top sluggers in the conference. Cardenas led the WAC in home runs, runs batted in, extra-base hits (43) and slugging percentage (.727). His 25 long balls tied for eighth in the nation, while his RBIs were a top-25 mark.
Cardenas' 55 runs scored, 18 doubles and 38 walks are each top-10 marks in ACU's DI record book. He collected 72 hits at a .317 clip with an 1.148 OPS that ranked second in the WAC. In conference play, Cardenas tied to pace the WAC with nine home runs and 22 runs scored.
Cardenas led the Wildcats with 16 multi-RBI games and was second with 20 multi-hit performances and 14 efforts with multiple runs scored. He hit two home runs on seven occasions.
In just two seasons at ACU, Cardenas' 44 home runs are second in team history, while his 136 RBIs rank fourth in the DI era. His .712 slugging percentage tops the program leaderboard, and his .324 batting average and .443 on-base percentage rank in the DI top 10. Cardenas' 32 doubles and 75 walks are also top-10 marks.
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