ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College baseball pitcher Placido Torres has been named the 2015-16 South Atlantic Conference Male Athlete of the Year announced league officials Wednesday.

The SAC Male and Female Athletes of the Year are selected by the league's 12 athletic directors, representing the conference's 18 sponsored sports including: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track & field, men's and women's golf, football, softball and women's volleyball. Catawba College softball pitcher Carly Tysinger was tabbed the SAC Female Athlete of the Year.

Torres, a senior from North Brunswick, New Jersey, becomes the second Pioneer baseball player and seventh Tusculum student-athlete overall to garner the conference's top athletic honor.

He joins former TC standouts Guy O'Connell (Baseball, 2003-04), Ricardo Colclough (Football, 2003-04), Lesley Murray (Women's Tennis, 2003-04), Corey Russell (Football, 2008-09), Kyle Moore (Men's Basketball, 2009-10) and Jasmine Gunn (Women's Basketball, 2009-10) who also earned SAC Athlete of the Year accolades.

Torres captured nearly every NCAA Division II 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 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CAA - selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America). He was also tabbed the 2016 recipient of the Brett Tomko Award, which recognizes the DII National Pitcher of the Year as selected by D2 Baseball News.

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 was 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 month, Torres was selected by the New York Mets in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He was the 250th overall selection and becomes the highest drafted player in Tusculum history.

The two-time All-SAC first team selection recorded a school single-game record 17 strikeouts against Stillman in February. 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 a 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 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 Pioneer baseball program has 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.

- TC -