WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Baldwin Wallace University Baseball slugging senior center fielder Dennis Ritlinger-Nirider (Grove) has been named the 2026 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Player of the Year by league coaches for the first time in his career. 

Senior third baseman Sean Kolenich (Parma/St. Edward), Junior designated hitter Colin West (Westborough, Mass./Worcester Academy), and Senior left-hander Brit Kostura (Tequesta, Fla./Jupiter Christian School) each earned a spot on the All-OAC first team. Junior first baseman Ryan Gordon (Strongsville) earns a spot on the All-OAC second team, while junior second-basemen Carson Petrecca (Willowick/Eastlake North) and junior right-hander Matt Moscarino (Strongsville/Padua Franciscan) round things up by earning an honorable mention honor.

Ritlinger-Nirider earns his first player of the year honor and his third career All-OAC team selection after being selected to the first team in 2025 and the second team in 2024. For the season, Ritlinger-Nirider has appeared in 40 games and earned a triple crown, with a batting average of .464 and an OAC-leading 12 home runs, the most by a BW player in five years when Luke Vonderhaar had 19 in 2022, and 61 RBI. He additionally has 21 doubles, three triples and 56 runs scored. He was named the OAC Player of the Week on March 30 and April 13 for his performances in these respective weeks. 

For his career, Ritlinger-Nirider has appeared in 148 games and has started 123 of them. He has a .379 batting average with 23 home runs, 123 RBI, 48 doubles, six triples, 68 walks and 125 runs scored. He has also been named to the D3Baseball.com and NBCA all-teams, with both distinctions coming in 2025.

Kolenich earned his second All-OAC team honor and his first on the first team after earning a second team award in 2023. Kolenich has appeared and started in all 41 games so far this season. He currently sits with a .363 batting average with six home runs, 47 RBI, an OAC-leading 66 runs scored and four triples, while also drawing 28 walks for second place on the team. Kolenich was the Yellow Jacket Athlete of the Week on February 16 after he had a six-hit game against Alfred State in Indianapolis.

For his career, Kolenich has a .363 batting average with 17 home runs, 174 RBI, 65 doubles, 209 runs scored and 91 walks. He has been on two All-OAC teams, an ABCA all-team, and an NCAA Division III All-Tournament as well.

West earned his first All-OAC team selection in his third year with the program. He has played in 40 games this year and has made starts in 39 of them. He has four home runs, 49 RBI, good for third place in the OAC, 20 doubles, has scored 35 runs and drawn 15 walks. He was named Yellow Jacket of the Week on March 16 for his weekly performance on the spring break Florida trip.

For his career, West has a .355 batting average, with six home runs, 79 RBI, 67 runs scored, 33 doubles, and 35 walks. He has a .442 on-base percentage in his career in 304 at bats.

Reigning OAC Co-Pitcher of the Year Kostura earns his second selection to the All-OAC first team after also being honored in 2025. He appeared in 15 games and started 12 of them as the Yellow Jackets' ace. He had a 7-3 win-loss record, a 2.16 ERA, with 65 strikeouts and a second place in the OAC 83.1 innings pitched. He only issued 15 walks throughout the season. Kostura was the Yellow Jacket Athlete of the Week for his outstanding performance on April 27 for the previous week, which included 7 2/3 shutout innings in a win over Ohio Northern.

Throughout his career, Kostura has appeared in 37 games and made starts in 22 of these. He possesses a 2.47 lifetime earned run average with a 12-4 win-loss record, 139 strikeouts along with throwing a no-hitter against John Carroll on May 2, 2025. He has been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC), D3Baseball.com, and NBCA all-team honors along with academic awards from the College Sports Communicators (CSC) and OAC.

Gordon is the only Yellow Jacket player to make it onto the second team, doing so in his third season with the program. Gordon appeared in 40 games this season and started all of them. He carries a .338 batting average, one home run, 39 RBI, 13 doubles, 14 walks and 25 runs scored heading into the NCAA Tournament. In his first year as a full-time player, he had 151 at bats. 

For his career, Gordon has appeared in 73 games and has made starts in 46 of them. He has two home runs, 50 RBI, 16 doubles, 21 walks and 34 runs scored. He had only a combined 35 at bats in his first two years with the program.

Petrecca completed his second year with the program in 2026 and improved significantly from 2025 to earn a spot on the OAC All-Honorable mention team. Petrecca has appeared in 40 games this season and has started in 36 of them. He has a .305 batting average with five home runs, 37 RBI, 11 doubles, 13 walks and 28 runs scored. With 36 starts this year, he doubled his total compared to last season, with only 15 games started in 2025.

For his career, Petrecca has played in 75 games and has started in 51 of those. He has eight home runs, 47 RBI, 16 doubles, 19 walks and 39 runs scored to go with a .305 batting average. He is an Academic All-OAC honoree once in his time at BW, earning this distinction in 2025.

Rounding out the honorable mention is Moscarino, earning it for the first time in his three-year career with the Yellow Jackets. He has appeared in nine games this season and has started seven of them. He has a 3.61 ERA, a 4-1 win-loss record with 36 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings pitched. Moscarino issued only five walks throughout the course of the season. He was named the Yellow Jacket Athlete of the Week on March 1 for his performance on February 22-28.

For his career, Moscarino has appeared in 31 games and has made starts in 18 of those. He possesses a 3.77 ERA with a 9-2 win-loss record. He has 99 strikeouts in 124 innings of work. He was named to the NCAA Division III Salisbury All-Regional team last season.

The Yellow Jackets punched their ticket to the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament with an automatic bid after winning the 2026 OAC Tournament. They will play in the Millikan (Ill.) regional against Wartburg (Iowa) to begin a double-elimination bracket on Friday, May 15.