Photo by: Kaylee Kahn
Cardenas Garners ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-America Honors
6/12/2026 2:08:00 PM | Baseball
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's Diego Cardenas collected more hardware with American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-America Third Team accolades, the organization announced Friday. The designated hitter is the only honoree from the Western Athletic Conference to earn ABCA All-American distinction.
This week, Cardenas was named a Second Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and was an ABCA/Rawlings Central All-Region First Team selection. His recognition comes on the heels of a historic campaign in which he established the Wildcats' Division I record with 69 RBIs and tied for the most home runs with 25.
ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams are selected by the ABCA All-America & Coach of the Year committee, featuring eight DI head coaches.
Cardenas is the third Wildcat in the DI era to garner ABCA All-American honors, joining Grayson Tatrow in 2023 and Luis Trevino in 2019. Both landed on the Second Team.
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.
The First Team All-WAC selection's 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.
This week, Cardenas was named a Second Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and was an ABCA/Rawlings Central All-Region First Team selection. His recognition comes on the heels of a historic campaign in which he established the Wildcats' Division I record with 69 RBIs and tied for the most home runs with 25.
ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams are selected by the ABCA All-America & Coach of the Year committee, featuring eight DI head coaches.
Cardenas is the third Wildcat in the DI era to garner ABCA All-American honors, joining Grayson Tatrow in 2023 and Luis Trevino in 2019. Both landed on the Second Team.
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.
The First Team All-WAC selection's 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.
Players Mentioned
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