June 15, 2016
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Another award rolled in on Wednesday for former WKU third baseman Danny Hudzina as he was named to the 2016 ABCA All-South Central Region first team, as voted on by the region's head coaches.
Hudzina became the 27th Hilltopper to be named to the region team by the American Baseball Coaches Association and the 11th WKU player since 2009. He joined former MLB Draft pick Wade Gaynor (2009) and Josh Patton (1997) as the third baseman to be named from WKU. With the first-team honors, Hudzina will be eligible for an All-America distinction, which will be announced later this month.
The new accolade for Hudzina came just days after he was selected in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. The First Team All-Conference USA member became the 19th Hilltopper to be drafted since the 2009 campaign and the 54th overall WKU player in program history. He was also one of two C-USA representatives on the 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List earlier this year.
In his senior season, Hudzina closed out his career on The Hill with one of the best campaigns in recent memory by a Hilltopper, finishing with a .408 batting average on 89 hits and 18 doubles. He was the 14th WKU player in the last 56 years to lead WKU in batting average and hold an average over .400. Hudzina was also the first WKU player to hit .400 for a season since Josh Patton hit .419 in 1997 and first C-USA player since Chad Zurcher of Memphis did so in 2011.
With the .408 average, Hudzina moved into the Top 10 in school history in multiple single-season categories as his batting average was tied for the eighth-best mark in a single season at WKU with Jim Atkinson (1978). His 89 hits tied the 2009 MLB Draft selection Matt Rice (2010) for the 10th-most in a single season on The Hill.
Hudzina, who spent a majority of the season either leading or in the Top 3 in the NCAA in hits, collected a hit in 47 of 54 contests, while also extending a hitting streak to 29 games at the start of the year. He reached base safely in every fixture but two in 2016 en route to opening up a 50-game reached-base streak that spanned over most of the year.
