SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State's Nick Rodriguez and Jake McCutcheon were named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Division I South All-Region Team on Tuesday.
 
Rodriguez made the First Team at second base, while McCutcheon is on the Second Team as an outfielder. As a First Team selection, Rodriguez advances to the All-America ballot, which will be announced Friday, June 13. The South Region includes 28 schools from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri.
 
Rodriguez put together a record-breaking senior season for the Bears on the way becoming the school's seventh Joe Carter Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year recipient. The Tampa, Fla., native batted .368 with 22 doubles, 18 home runs and 56 RBIs, collecting 40 extra-base hits to rank fifth on MoState's single-season list in that category. He slugged .702 with a .444 on-base percentage and 65 runs scored.
 
Missouri State's A.E. "Ted Willis" Team MVP for the second consecutive season, Rodriguez put together a school-record 40-game hitting streak from March 9-May 23, tying for the 12^th-longest in NCAA Division I history. The streak also included 15 consecutive games with an extra-base hit from March 23-April 18. While no NCAA record exists for extra-base hit streak, the MLB record is 14 games. Lastly, the senior fielded a stellar .976 in nearly 250 chances while starting all 55 games at second base.
 
McCutcheon started every game for the Bears this season with 19 multi-RBI games in addition to 24 multi-hit outings. He batted .358 and slugged .647 with a .444 on-base percentage, hitting 15 homers, 14 doubles and driving in 54 runs.
 
A junior from Defiance, Mo., McCutcheon collected first-team all-MVC honors and posted a pair of four-hit games on the year, with 11 total bases on March 22 versus Bradley. He twice had double-digit hitting streaks and reached safely in the final 24 games of the season.