BOWLING GREEN — University of the Cumberlands head baseball coach Brad Shelton was named the Mid-South Conference Coaching for Significance winner, announced at the Mid-South Conference meetings. This award is given to a coach that is an outstanding teacher, an exemplary role model and a dynamic leader.

“I am thankful for this award and for those who nominated me. I’m blessed to do what I love at such a great university,” said Shelton. “The players and assistant coaches in our program have been the reason for our success on and off the field, and I’m lucky to be around them every day.”

Shelton led the Patriots to a 46-10 record, including a 12-3 mark in conference play to capture back-to-back Mid-South Conference championships. UC also hosted the NAIA opening round, where they were the top-seed, and finished the season ranked 10th in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Cumberlands set a program record for home runs in a season with 102. That mark is tops in the NAIA as UC averaged 1.93 home runs per game. Zach Hurley and Bryan Leaf were both NAIA All-American Honorable Mentions, while the Patriots placed 10 players on the Mid-South Conference all-conference team. Hurley also garnered MSC Pitcher of the Year and Champion of Character honors.

In addition to their success on the field, Shelton’s team had four Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes and 17 academic all-conference selections.

Shelton becomes the third coach from the University of the Cumberlands to earn this distinction, joining Kathryn Hart (2018) and Matt Rhymer (2016).