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| East Texas Baptist fell in the Regional round last year after a Super-Regional appearance in 2024 and a trip to the DIII World Series in 2023. East Texas Baptist athetics photo |
By Will Miner (@D3region10base), for D3baseball.com
Region 10 teams made a lot of noise in 2025 as eight teams were in the 2025 64-team tournament. This season will not include Trinity (Texas) as a conference realignment has them in Region 6 as a member of the SAA. McMurry and Claremont Mudd Scripps had both of their seasons come to a close in the Super Regionals and are looking to return strong teams that could make a lot of noise late in 2026. East Texas Baptist and Pomona both have recent CWS appearances and are hungry to make it back to the big dance.
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| Jordan Harlow knows what it means to win a national title as he was a member of the 2013 Linfield National Championship team. Linfield athletics photo |
La Verne has been close to the World Series in recent history as in '23 and '24 were they lost in the Super Regionals. Region 10 fans hopes to travel back to the 2010’s as teams fron the West won five CWS in 10 years. Is this the year region 10 breaks the dry spell in the last five seasons and claims the crown once more?
New Faces
Frank Craska, Caltech: Craska has been promoted and named the next head coach of Caltech, replacing outgoing coach Kevin Whitehead. Craska is entering his second year with the program, having been named assistant coach in August 2024. Under his guidance and that of Whitehead, Caltech tied its program record with 10 regular-season wins, and defeated No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for the first time in program history. "I am thrilled to be named the next head baseball coach at Caltech. This opportunity would not have been possible without Kevin Whitehead and his tireless efforts for the program during his tenure. A special thanks to Kevin and our department for believing in me as a coach," Craska said.
Jordan Harlow, Linfield: Dan Spencer stepped down this summer and longtime assistant and associate head coach Harlow took over the program. As Spencer passes the torch to Harlow, the change in leadership is expected to be relatively seamless for currently players and incoming recruits. "Linfield baseball is in a good place," said Spencer. "A place to jump off and do great things. I believe with a new voice and fresh ideas Coach Harlow is the right person to lead the Wildcats into the future. Jordan is a great person and he and his family love Linfield University." "Linfield has always been home for me," said Harlow. "It's a place of strong tradition and championship expectations and the opportunity to serve as the next head baseball coach is humbling. I also want to thank Dan Spencer and wish him the very best in his next chapter. Dan has been a great mentor to me and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to grow as a coach under his leadership.
Key Games
McMurry at Cal Lutheran, February 6th - McMurry travels back to Southern California where they found a lot of success at the end of last season, winning a Regional and advancing to the Super-Regional round. They open with a top team and it does not get easier when they open SCAC play the next weekend with Texas Lutheran.
Linfield at La Verne, February 20th - Linfield will get an early test when they fly down the Pacific Coast to Los Angeles to play La Verne for a four game series. Will the program be back to the level the program was a decade earlier or what we all saw in the post-Covid era. This four game series over a long weekend will tell us if the Wildcats are back. It is also a big series for the Leopards of La Verne who have big prizes they want to claim.
Chicago at Pomona Pitzer, February 27th - Quite a few teams east of the Mississippi River are venturing out to the Northwest of Southern California and there is no bigger match up when Chicago makes the journey for a single game on the 27th and a doubleheader the next day. This will be a series that will count heavily in the NPI.
Trinity (Texas) at Texas Lutheran, March 3rd - The stakes are not as high as in past years but a Trinity/Texas Lutheran match will give each team a solid game in their schedule and plenty of points towards an top NPI ranking. They will play another game in the series two weeks later, this time on the campus of the Trinity Tigers.
Hamline vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, March 13th - CMS opens their spring trip to Tucson, Arizona with Hamline. They will have a total of five games with Region 8,9 teams. If they have a World Series caliber squad, they should leave with a 5-0, maybe a 4-1, record.
East Texas Baptist at Hardion Simmons, April 9th - The two teams predicted to be at the top open a four game series. There will be time to correct any misstep but a solid result will be key to winning the regular season title.
Conference Previews
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| Senior Hardin Simmons Infielder Brock Calillo increased his batting average in 2025 by 170 points and his slugging percentage 250 points over the previous year. Hardin Simmons athletics photo |
American Southwest Conference: East Texas Baptist (11-5, 31-16) look to repeat their recent success as they have been in a regional the last three years. Coach Hood has led this team to a CWS in 2023 where they came up short to the eventual champion Lynchburg. In 2025 they lost in the regional championship to Trinity (Texas) in a winner goes home. ETBU and Trinity have had many of these regional and super regional matchups in recent years and hopefully we see another in 2026. This squad will look different from the last three years as the main faces of those runs have mostly graduated. With 21 transfers and 8 freshmen on the roster, there is no doubt that this is a new team. Returners Connor Massimini, Joaquin Costa, Carson Livesay and Nathan Harmon should be top offensive performers for the Tigers. While Matthew Irwin and Tyler Bogusz take a majority of the innings, don’t be surprised to see transfer Cody Myers from Region foe Centenary (La.) pitch a lot for this team. Top relief pitchers Nolan Bushko and Brayden Hodge will look to control games late. There will be a lot of holes to fill but with the sheer amount of transfers that are coming in this team should be plenty. ETBU is looking at a strong out of conference schedule where they face Chapman, Belhaven, Huntingdon, Adrian, Pacific, Wooster, and Maryville who have all been in the postseason in recent history.
Base stealing guru Coach Stawski looks to swipe as many bases as possible this year for Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-7, 24-18). In 2025 they finished 5th in SB for all of DIII at 144 bags and only 25 caught stealing. They averaged 3.43 SB per game which was the 3rd best in the country. Riley Bender will lead the pack on offense for the Cru with Tyler Betts, Jasson Hemmerling, Easton Cline, Cam Talburt and Austin Brikhoff adding to an explosive offense. Those players tallied 63 of the steals last year with Cline and Talburt stealing 19 and 23 bags respectfully. We might see a slight dip in steals with Carson Hagan graduating who had 32 of the teams SB, but UMHB should finish in the top 10 once again. UMHB will be young on the mound as they don’t have any starters eturning but are looking for big innings out of Jacob Haynes and Mason Semmelman.
Coming into the 2026 season Hardin-Simmons (13-26, 8-8) was picked for second in the preseason ASC polls. Coach Wilson brings back a strong offensive piece in Brock Calvillo who hit .430 last season with returners Justin Blancaflor, Jacob Hollingsworth, Jimmy Mathis and Cannon Negron. Jace Martinez is the one qualified innings pitcher returning for the squad and Bradley Fletcher who led the team in IP out of the pen will be returning as well. Howard Payne (1-15, 9-31) was well off the pace and has been picked to finish last again in 2026. Letourneau left the ASC for the SCAC this season.
Predicted Champion: East Texas Baptist
Northwest Conference: Whitworth (15-9, 29-18) appears to look like their dominant selves from the 2010’s. Coach CJ Perry has changed course for the Pirates as they have made the conference tournament the last two years. The team went 0-2 in the regional round losing to La Verne 1-5 and Pomona 9-10. Whitworth has a lot of experience and looks to make back to back Regionals since 2015-16. Offensively, they are only losing Kevin Corder and Aiden Morrison who were big players in recent years. With a lineup stocked with Kyle Memarian (NWC POTY), Caleb Gray (13HR) and defensive specialist Spencer Shipman, you expect this team to be dangerous at the plate. Especially since they have returns as Dominic Giusti, Carson Coffield, Ty Komoda, Austin Paul and Junior Garcia to back them up. A lineup that has eight key guys coming back is going to score a lot. The mound looks solid for them as well. AJ Woodward led the team with 81.2 innings and Dylan Huntsman had 71 innings. These two will be a key 1-2 punch that will lead this team to a lot of wins. Nathaniel Kurano and Seth Mahler are planned key contributors for the back half of the game. The transfer portal was big time as they landed Emerson Fleck from Washington State, Zach Gray from UH-Hilo and Tommy Lamb who was the Mid Columbia Conference POTY. Perry and his Pirates have the bats and flame throwers to make a deep postseason run.
Coach Jeff Halstead led Puget Sound (14-10, 25-17) to the first conference tournament appearance in 2025 since the tournament's conception. They have high hopes in 2026 as they have a lot of returning players on the mound and the plate. This has been a team that plays small ball to win games. They hosted a 72-80 in SB last year which was good for a 90% success rate. They will lose key players at the plate and their ace. This team bullpen was nails last year. Harley Eschliman, Leyton Pfingston, Braden Blackwell, Preston Crockett, Zac Robman and Ethan Rattie all put up a sub 4.6 ERA in 10+ innings. Pitching will lead this team to success as Charlie Decker and Cal Johnson will be taking on the majority of the innings as the 1 and 2. The team may be carried by the pitching but the offense has a lot coming back. Ryan Spero, Kellen Krebs, and Crockett (two way) will be the qualified AB coming back from last year. Kahi Teruya, Jim O’Brien, Brock Makishima and Matt Churchill will be four players that didn’t get a lot of at-bats but still played a lot last year. Do not be surprised if this team expands on their success in 2025 and is a regional team.
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| Senior Linfield outfielder Trent Wainfield was an honorable mention All-NWC selection in 2025. Linfield athletics photo |
Coach Dan Harlow will take over for the historic Linfield (13-11, 24-18) program. The Wildcats had a CWS win in 2013 and went back in 2014, but came up short in tier bid to repeat. The team's last regional appearance was 2017 and they hope to get back to the regional in '26. In 2025 the team made the conference tournament and came up short as they went 0-2. This team is losing two key players on the bump, with Jake Swenson (NWC Pitcher of the Year who has transferred to UCLA), and Camden Oram, who is now at Seattle. There are a decent amount of returners as Trent Winfield, Josh Mansur, Nick Holm, and Luke Porter will be the core of the offense for the Wildcats. Zach Johnson and Matthew Tacheny will carry a bulk of the innings for them on the bump. The back half of games will be filled with Colton Ouellette, Zach Hampson, and Brian Mannion. Coach Harlow has some transfers he expects to fill in roles - Cole Hubka from Texas A&M Corpus Christi/Utah, Ely Kennel from Wazzu/Oregon St and Jaxson Kister from College of the Siskiyous. The schedule is cut out for the team as they have four games vs La Verne and three vs Denison who were in the CWS last season.
In Coach Jacob Upwoods first season at Pacific (16-8, 19-20) they won their fourth regular season trophy in the last six years (2021, 22 ,23 and 25). The team looks to stay at the top of the conference as returners Hunter Nishina, Benjamin Lewis, Javin Hamura and Trevor Kazahaya look to keep the offense alive. While Nicholas Saelens, Isaiah Hirsh, Trent Nagamine and Matt Palmateer look to contribute on the mound. Coach Kitamura is in his 12th season with Whitman (12-12, 21-19) as he looks to make it to a regional for the first time since 2019. He is bringing back power hitter Halen Otte (17 HR), Jonah Chang, Nathan Wilson and Sam Mieszkowski-Lapping to the lineup. The rotation will have both Russell Peterson (71.1 IP) and Oliver Brown (62.0 IP). Tanner Coddington and Carl Moland-Kovash are the teams pen leaders in innings coming back.
Coach Mike Coduto will start his third year at the helm for Willamette (12-12, 15-22). He claimed a tournament title in 2024 where his team fell short to Pomona in a best of 5 regional series. This team will have their big three workhorses as Dylan Turner (18 app with 6 GS), Nate Schikore (65.2 IP), and Steven Verespey (58.2 IP) are all back. Offensively Nate Hamburger (.391 avg /.500 OBP with 24 SB) will lead the charge with Trevor Stostman and Liam O’Connor returners to back him up. Coach Matt Kosderka heads into his ninth season for the Lewis and Clark (11-13, 20-19), now the River Otters. They return Michael Aikawa (.372), Bret Potter (.305), Brandon Gonzaga, Joaquin Sandoval and Eli Steinhaus will be key offense pieces for the team. Owen Eisen and Nate Kerr look to hold down a bulk of the innings for the team. While Dillon Foster and Shane Buchbinder hold down the fort in the back half.
Coach Nolan Soete added a P4 win over Washington in 2025 to his resume. Pacific Lutheran (9-15, 17-22) is bringing back six of their eight qualified hitters with Rutger Youch, Brody Phinney, Ethan Keintz, Rochne Beecham, Carson Burke and Braeden Lundberg. While Alex Lopez (3.00 ERA in 60 IP), Matthew Sherwood (55 IP) and Chris Moreno (44 IP) are all back. Jon Crawley and Logan Egge look to lock it down for the team late. Coach Kevin Kopple enters his seventh year as the coach for George Fox (6-18, 12-28). The team will rely on returners Evan Balingit, Brennan Bates and Garrett Strube to lead the offense. On the mound they look for Aidan Rady and Michael Singleton to take on the majority of innings.
Predicted Champion: Whitworth
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference: McMurry (22-8, 35-13) exploded onto the scene in 2025 as no one predicted them to be a Super Regional participant. Coach Josh Lee led the team to the most wins in team history (previously 32 in 1998). This team has a decent amount of experience from last year and should be very good. The team's major loss comes with All-American Michael Smosna who is now at West Virginia. With graduation, the offense will look almost completely new. This team will be good when it comes to the starting pitchers. Hunter Poe, Braydon Durst and Cooper Marshall expect to cover a lot of the innings for the team. David Perez and Adam Trevino will cover the back half for Warhawks. Collin Burning and Paul Beckham will be the main bats returning. With additions of Kia'i Sylvester and Kaden Buske to plug into the lineup this team is going to win a lot of tight games. They open up the season vs Cal Lutheran in three game set which could be a preview to a regional matchup.
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| McMurry righthanded pitcher Hunter Poe has steadily progressed one his three years as a Warhawk. He has won four game more each season as he started in the bull pen and transitioned to a full time starter. McMurry athletics photo |
Coach Clint Mokry led Concordia (Texas) (24-6, 35-13) to a historic season in 2025 where they came short in the regional to Endicott. CTX has had back to back regional appearances and looks to extend their streak. They are losing their biggest bat and on the mound their number one. These are not the only losses as many of the pieces from their last two runs have graduated. With Kalen Clark returning, he looks to lead the offense as he hit 29 XBH with 43 RBI’s. Landon Hyle and Carson Riley will be offensive returns that will play a key role. With inning eaters Otto Franz and Dakota Palmer leaving, Rowdy Hoadley (63.2 IP) will have to carry more innings this year as the only returning starter. The team looks to have a lights out pen with Ralph Wallace III and Chase North coming back who both posted sub 2 ERA’s. This team has plenty of arms that will have to step up in big ways for them heading into 2026.
Texas Lutheran (17-13, 24-15) has had a slow start in the post COVID era as their last postseason appearance was in 2021 where they ended up going 2-2. The Bulldogs last CWS appearance was in 2018 where they were runner ups to former region 10 foe Texas-Tyler. Heading into 2026, led by Coach Palmer, TLU looks to make it back to the postseason after coming up short in the 2024 SCAC tournament. A team that led the nation with triples with 26 looks to continue as an explosive offense. Adam Peavy, Chase Bourgeois, Tyler Helpenstill, Cooper Jen and Brayden Sprencel will bring lots of success at the plate. Bourgeois himself had 8 of the team's triples in 2025 tied for 4th along all of D3. The team is bringing back a large chunk of innings as starters Triston McGowan (75.1 IP) and Garret Nedd (39.0 IP) look to take the bulk of the innings with Isaiah Ramirez (42 IP out of the pen). With a good amount of returners and Trinity leaving the conference it looks like the path to a regional since 2021 could be in the cards.
After a slow year in 2025 Coach Diaz looks to turn things around for Centenary (La.) (12-18, 16-24), having last been in a regional in 2024. Heading into the 2026 season the name of the game for this team is going to be pitching their way to wins. They are returning Roman Ardoin and Tyler Hughes who were both freshmen last year and look to be the team's 1-2, considering the leader in innings (69.2) has graduated. Their pen has tons of arms filled with Jacob Broussard, Tony Barcelona V, Coen Laroux, and Treyson Martin who all will be back and ready to fill innings for the team. Offensively the team is returning Blaine Birkelbach, Noah Paulson, Miles Keith Jr., and Brody Hebert. This team has the potential for a bounce back year to make it back to postseason baseball.
After a co-conference champion finish in the ASC LeTourneau (11-5, 23-20) have moved over to the SCAC. The Yellowjackets came close to their first postseason appearance since 2014 last year and look to get there in 2026. Coach Phillips will have a new looking offense this season as they lose First Team All American Dane Jones who led the team in almost every offense category. Along with Xander Nabors who tallied 21 XBH, this offense will return Zach Baker, Luke Land, Jack Kale, and Austin Wiederhold. This offense will hold their own but their pitching hopes to step up with the losses of Aman Patel and Dalton Pickett who had 21 of the teams starts. Ryan Brewer (42 IP) and Clayton Holt (34.1 IP) look to cover a majority of the ground for the team. Coach Phillips has eight relievers from last year coming back.
Coach Peterson made his first SCAC tournament appearance as a head coach for St. Thomas (Texas) (19-20, 17-13) in 2025. The team looks to build on the success it had in 2025. The top of the lineup will look a little different as Alex Trinh and Dillon McKee both are not with the team in 2026. Ryan Ratajczak (.348), Gabe Garner(.315) and Tyler Mills (.284) will look to lead the charge for the team. The team will rely on Kaden Bertrand (50.2 IP) who led the team in innings last year. Returning Tyler Dunham will be a key piece for the team returning in the pen.
Austin (10-20, 15-24), University of the Ozarks (9-21, 15-25), Schreiner (8-22, 10-29) and University of Dallas (8-22, 8-27) all finished well off the pace in 2025 and are not expected to do better in 2026 as they fill the bottom spots in the SCAC preseason poll. Hendrix (9-9, 19-23) will play in the SCAC for the first time. In 2025 they were part of the SAA where they went 19-23 and pulled out wins vs ETBU, Adrian, Millsaps, McMurry, Rhodes, and Centre who all were regional teams in 2025. The Warriors have not had much success lately and a change might be just what they need. Trinity (Texas) and Southwestern will play in a new conference, the SAA and moves to Region 6.
Predicted Champion: McMurry
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| La Verne third baseman Ryan Vosika was tabbed as a 2026 D3baseball.com Preseason All-American last month. La Verne athletics photo by David Bernal |
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference:
The 2025 SCIAC conference champs had their season cut short as they lost in the regional round. La Verne (18-6, 35-11) has multiple Super Regional runs in recent history and will be looking for another. In 2024 they lost to Lynchburg and in 2023 to ETBU. Coach Scott Winterburn is a D3 baseball mastermind and has won 30 games every season in the post-Covid era. Entering his 24th season Winterburn has seen his team lose a lot of seniors from 2025 but is returning key players in Nate Perry (.402), Ryan Vosika (.417), Aiden Salcedo, Jake Ledford and Aaron Whobrey. The team has a lot of pitching returning as Justin Ries, Lucas Quintana, Andrew Wente, Corbin Duffield and Mikey Rogozik will all be returning for the Leopards. This team will have high aspirations and do not be surprised if even with some new faces this team climbs to the 30 win mark and is a regional team once again in 2026.
Coach Bill Walkenbach enters his 10th year as head coach for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (16-8, 35-15). The team has found a lot of success in recent years. In 2024 they made it to the Regional championship game vs ETBU and then in 2025 were a Super Regional participant before their season was ended by Endicott. The team will lose the best hitter in the country in many peoples opinions with Andrew Mazzone but the offense still returns almost everyone else. Big names such as Alex Henderson who posted 19 HR in 2025, Dillon Martin with 7 HR, Carter Bennett with 10 HR and Bryce Didrickson who had 8 HR, making this team is a favorite with long ball lovers. With Parker McGraw and Dom Rolla both returning the team looks to bring back a ton of innings from two of their top three innings guys last year. Coming into 2026 they still do not have a home field which makes it even more spectacular in what they have accomplished.
Pomona-Pitzer (16-8. 32-17) is home of the left handed hitters. This offense led by coach Frank Pericolosi will hit many home runs to right field at home. In 2025 they lost in the Regional but in 2024 they had a unique tournament as they won a five game set vs Willamette and the best of three versus ETBU to make it to the CWS. Pomona's offense this year looks like it could carry it to another deep postseason run. The team offensively will be losing JC Ng but they are keeping seven key offensive pieces with Jack Gold, Greg Pierantoni, Cooper Berry, Lateef Wakil, Tanner DeGrazia, Sammy Lee and Will Kinney. On the mound Jack Wiessinger and Max Brunngraber will look to be a solid 1-2 punch for the team while Wade Lawson controls the back half.
Coach Erik Scherer led Cal Lutheran (16-8, 27-14) to another conference tournament but lost in the 4 and 5 seed play-in game being played for the first time last season. The team looks to bring back a strong offense as Lucas Danielewicz, Jona Dawson, Kai Caranto, Ethan Dungo, Eric Gonzalez and Troy Anderson will all be returning for the team. The pitching will have to be redefined in 2026 because the top inning guys and two top relievers will not be returning. Oscar Lopez (4.68 ERA), Caleb Wilson (14 app) and Matt Campo (3 saves) will look to step into bigger shoes for the team. Pitching transfers, Max McGrady (Santa Barbara CC) and Jake Porter (Saddleback CC), will bolster the pitching corps.
Coach Aaron Holley and Redlands (15-9, 27-16) came just short of an at-large bid being just under the cut line in the NPI. This team will look almost completely new offensively as they lost 1,113 of the team's 1,436 at-bats. Nathan Miller and Ian Umscheid are the two main hitters returning for the team. Both Erik Radder (4.20 ERA and 60 IP) and Joe Godoy (51.2 IP) will be starters returning for the squad. Brett Edwards (18 app), Gavin Duenez (17 app) and Tanner Currier (15 app) will all be in the bullpen for 20026. If this team can have some young talent step up at the plate, the pitching will hold it down for hopes of another great season.
Coach Scott Laverty has a National Championship under his belt from 2019 and many postseason runs to go along with it. After a down year in 2025 for Chapman (10-14, 11-28), he looks to get the program back to the conference tournament. The team lost Josh Phillips who had 35 HR in his time at Chapman and lost standout pitcher Henry Chabot to USC. The team offensively will be returning Matt Campopiano, Ryan Nopper, Joey Capobianco and Matt Cristol. Graham Stogner (59.1 IP) will be the team's main outlet on the mound. There were six non-seniors that completed more than 10 IP in 2025 so there should be help if the game's starter falters. Whittier (9-15, 17-23) and Occidental (3-21, 10-30) were picked to finish seventh in the conference with Caltech (5-19, 10-30) at the bottom of the standings.
Predicted Champion: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps