OMAHA, Neb. --- Tusculum College's Placido Torres has been named the winner of the third annual Brett Tomko Award presented by D2 Baseball News. The annual award is bestowed to a college baseball pitcher whose on the field performance is deemed the most outstanding at the NCAA Division II level.

Torres has captured nearly every DII Pitcher of the Year accolade in the finest season ever recorded by a Tusculum hurler. He swept the three national pitcher of the year awards by the ABCA, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America).

Torres is the first player in program history to earn national pitcher of the year laurels. He is the 21st baseball All-American in Tusculum history and the sixth Pioneer pitcher to garner All-America recognition.

Torres, a senior left-hander from North Brunswick, New Jersey, is also a consensus DII Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year honoree, receiving the recognition from the NCBWA, ABCA and D2CCA. He was also named the 2015-16 Tusculum College Male Athlete of the Year.

He posted a perfect 11-0 record in his 14 starts where he pitched seven complete games, including a TC-single-season record four shutouts. His 11 wins tied for second-most in a TC season and are the most by a Pioneer hurler during the NCAA Division II era (1999-present).

His 0.70 earned run average is best in NCAA II (4th for all NCAA divisions) and is a new program and conference record. He leads all three NCAA divisions with a school single-season record 162 strikeouts. His seasonal strikeout total is the second most in SAC history and the 10th most in NCAA II history. He threw a school record 116 innings this season where he allowed 24 walks and limited the opposition to a .154 batting average. He also led NCAA II in fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched (4.73).

Earlier this season, the two-time All-SAC first team selection recorded a school single-game record 17 strikeouts against Stillman. He has posted 12 or more strikeouts on eight occasions this year, including 15 strikeouts in a one-hit shutout over Wingate, earning him national pitcher of the week honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Torres has been named SAC Pitcher of the Week six times and NCBWA Southeast Region Pitcher of the Week on four occasions.

Torres pitched a pair of complete game victories in his two postseason starts this year. He tossed a four-hit shutout in Tusculum's SAC Tournament opener against Lincoln Memorial, earning him a spot on the SAC All-Tournament Team. He followed that with last Saturday's nine-inning complete game victory over 15th-ranked Belmont Abbey in an elimination contest of the NCAA II Southeast Regional in Columbus, Georgia. In that game, he allowed a run on seven hits, with two walks and a dozen strikeouts.

During his two-year Tusculum career, he amassed a 20-3 record in his 31 mound appearances with a 1.43 ERA which is the lowest ever by a Pioneer pitcher. In his 27 career starts, he has pitched eight complete games, including a program-record five shutouts. His 272 career strikeouts are a new TC record and are the sixth-most in the SAC record book. His 201.1 career innings pitched are sixth in program history, while his 20 wins are fifth-most by a Pioneer.

Tusculum finished the year with a 38-18 overall record, including wins in five of its last seven games. The Pioneers captured a share of the SAC Tournament title for the program's fourth league postseason crown. TC earned the program its seventh NCAA II Tournament appearance, which are the second most of any SAC member. The Pioneers have accounted for 16 consecutive winning seasons, including 14 straight 30-win campaigns.

TC posted a 2-2 record at the NCAA II Southeast Regional to claim third place honors. The Pioneers lost its opening game 2-1 to 19th-ranked USC Aiken before bouncing back with wins over Belmont Abbey (7-1) and Mount Olive (3-2) before falling to USC Aiken again in the elimination bracket final.

ABOUT THE TOMKO AWARD: In 1995, Brett Tomko had a spectacular season pitching for the Florida Southern College Moccasins that was full of both incredible individual and team success. Tomko compiled an incredible 15-2 record with a 1.35 ERA and amassed 154 strikeouts in just 126.3 innings. He also threw seven complete games, three of which were shutouts, and also added a pair of saves.

Tomko led the Mocs to the NCAA Division II Championship and threw a complete game shutout against Georgia College to give FSC its eighth national title. He was named the outstanding player of the Division II Championship and was the Sunshine State Conference Pitcher of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year. Tomko earned the distinct recognition of being the first athlete ever to be awarded both the NCAA Division II Player and Pitcher of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Following Tomko's historic season in Lakeland, the Cincinnati Reds drafted him in the second round of the Major League Amateur Draft. He made his big league debut with the Reds two years later and went on to win one hundred MLB games in 14 seasons. Tomko reached the double-digit win plateau in five seasons while pitching in the big leagues and he was also able to accrue over 190 innings on the mound five times as well.

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