HADLEY, Mass. – In a vote by the NESCAC coaches, Trinity's Tyler Bernstein was named the NESCAC Player of the Year while Cole Donato of Tufts was selected as NESCAC Pitcher of the Year. Also earning individual awards was fellow Jumbo Malcolm Whitfield as the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, and the Rookie of the Year award was shared by Saahi Jetti of Amherst and Henry Ayers of Middlebury.  Tufts head coach Bryan Stark was voted the NESCAC Coach of the Year by his peers.
 
Bernstein is the first Bantam since 2013 and sixth overall to be named the NESCAC Player of the Year. The senior is hitting .372 and slugging .628 with an OPS of 1.1097 this season. The infielder has scored 48 runs to lead the NESCAC and has 55 hits and 41 RBI. Bernstein has also belted 10 home runs, which ranks second in the conference, and gone 25-for-28 in stolen bases. Bernstein helped the Bantams reach the championship game of the conference tournament and finish as the NESCAC Runners-Up. Trinity was selected to the NCAA Tournament field as an at-large team.
 
Donato's selection as the NESCAC Pitcher of the Year marks the ninth time a Jumbo has garnered the honor.  The senior leads the conference with nine wins in 10 starts. He has worked 67 innings, allowed just 16 earned runs, and carries a 2.15 ERA to lead the Jumbo pitching corps. During the NESCAC Championship Weekend, Donato tossed eight innings in a win over Middlebury, allowing one earned and six hits while fanning four. He also came out of the bullpen for the first time this season to toss 2.2 innings of relief in the title game against Amherst, allowing two hits and one earned run in a 16-8 win. He picked up the victory in both games.
 
Whitfield earns the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year honor for the second time in his career and was also voted the award winner in 2024. The catcher owns a .996 fielding percentage to lead the NESCAC and has just one error in 275 total chances in 2026. At the plate, Whitfield is hitting .271 with 36 hits, 36 runs scored, and 24 RBI while also going 20-for-22 in stolen bases. Whitfield helped the Jumbos claim the 2026 NESCAC title for the second time in four years.
 
The NESCAC Rookie of the Year honor is shared for the first time since 2017. Jetti is the fourth Mammoth and first since 2021 to garner the honor. Ayers is the first Panther in program history to be named Rookie of the Year.
 
Jetti led the Amherst pitching staff with a 2.39 ERA (3rd in NESCAC) and an 8-1 record in 11 total appearances. The right-hander leads the NESCAC in innings pitched (71.2), strikeouts (67), allowed just 19 earned runs while limiting opponents to a .199 average (1st in the NESCAC). Jetti's season was highlighted by a nine-inning no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Colby in Game 2 of the NESCAC Quarterfinals to force a third and deciding game that Amherst ultimately won. Jetti walked only three hitters while striking out eight in the first complete-game shutout of his career.
 
Ayers leads the NESCAC in hitting with a .476 average, a 1.182 OPS, and .676 slugging percentage. The catcher knocked out 69 hits to lead the conference and has 14 doubles, three triples, and three homers to go with 30 RBI.
  
Stark was voted as the NESCAC Coach of the Year by his peers in just his second season at the helm of the Jumbos after leading Tufts to its eighth NESCAC title. The Jumbos earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will host an NCAA Regional at Sol Gittleman Park.

2026 NESCAC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: Tyler Bernstein, Trinity
Pitcher of the Year: Cole Donato, Tufts
Defensive Player of the Year: Malcolm Whitfield, Tufts
Co-Rookies of the Year: Saahi Jetti, Amherst & Henry Ayers, Middlebury
Coach of the Year: Bryan Stark, Tufts

All-NESCAC First Team
Pos - Name	School	Yr.	Hometown	Previous Honors
IF - Tyler Bernstein	Trinity	Sr.	Ponte Vedra, Fla.	2025 1st Team
IF - Timothy Domizio	Trinity	So.	Fairfield, Conn.
IF - James Henshon	Tufts	So.	Wellesley, Mass.	2025 2nd Team
IF - Tyler McCord	Amherst	Sr.	Langhorne, Pa.
IF - Patrick Shrake	Colby	Jr.	Chicago, Ill.
IF - Gibby Sullivan	Bates	Sr.	Yarmouth, Maine
C - Henry Ayers	Middlebury	Fy.	West Caldwell, N.J.
OF - Sam Gersch	Middlebury	Fy.	Tiburon, Calif.
OF - Lucas Herman	Hamilton	Sr.	Malibu, Calif.
OF - Jack Kamin	Tufts	So.	Shrewsbury, Mass.
OF - Charlie LaFreniere	Amherst	Jr.	Norwalk, Conn.	2025 2nd Team, 2024 2nd Team
OF - Keagan Ryan	Bates	Jr.	Salem, N.H.
UT - James Marsden	Wesleyan	Sr.	Ivoryton, Conn.
P - Emmet Christian	Tufts	So.	Chapel Hill, N.C.
P - Derek Desmarais	Tufts	So.	Washington, D.C.
P - Cole Donato	Tufts	Sr.	Wapole, Mass.
P - Tyler Fahey	Trinity	So.	Danbury, Conn.
P - Saahi Jetti	Amherst	Fy.	Des Moines, Iowa
All-NESCAC Second Team
Pos - Name	School	Yr.	Hometown	Previous Honors
IF - Aiden Dubetsky	Amherst	So.	Frederick, Md.
IF - John Federico	Bates	So.	Durham, N.H.
IF - Dave Mosrie	Williams	Sr.	Weddington, N.C.
IF - Dylan Schnitzer	Trinity	Sr.	Huntington, N.Y.	2025 1st Team, 2024 2nd Team
C - Jake Acker	Wesleyan	Jr.	Holtsville, N.Y.	2025 2nd Team
C - Aidan Stern	Trinity	Jr.	South Salem, N.Y.	2025 2nd Team, 2024 2nd Team
OF - Owen McKiernan	Tufts	Sr.	Durham, N.H.
OF - Jack Margiloff	Bates	Sr.	Rye, N.Y.
OF - Ryan Nakajima	Williams	Jr.	Bothell, Wash.	2025 1st Team
UT - Will Bordes	Bowdoin	Sr.	Groton, Mass.	2025 2nd Team
P - Matt Higgins	Colby	So.	Norwell, Mass.
P - Mantas Kempinas	Hamilton	So.	New York, N.Y.
P - Naaveen Narayanan	Amherst	Sr.	Malvern, Pa.
P - Andrew Oppenheimer	Trinity	Fy.	Westport, Conn.
P - John Tully	Bates	Sr.	Framingham, Mass.
P - Christian Zebrowski	Middlebury	So.	Verona, N.J.