A Host of Tigers Honored with All-NCAC Recognition
CLEVELAND, OH- The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) announced the 2026 All-NCAC baseball teams today. Ten Tigers were selected over the three teams as Wittenberg players earned three first-team, six second-team, and one third-team awards.
| 2026 All-NCAC Baseball Teams |
The three Tigers to earn first-team honors were Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County), Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) and Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills). Those to earn second-team honors were James MacAuley (Grosse Point Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North), Daniel Galdden (Galena, OH / Olentangy Berlin), Landon Turner (Tipp City, OH / Tippecanoe), Corbin Marshall (Doylestown, OH / Chippewa), Andrew Rust (Dublin, OH / Coffman) and Wade Thewes (Parker, CO / Lutheran). The lone Tiger to be named to the third-team was Quintin Applegate (Delaware, OH / Olentangy Berlin).
The Tigers ended the regular season with records of 31-11 overall and 12-4 in conference play, good for second place. In the NCAC Tournament, the Tigers fell in their first game to DePauw but rallied to defeat John Carroll and DePauw on the second day of the double-elimination competition. After dropping a pair of one-run games to No. 1-ranked Denison in the regular season, the Tigers again gave the Big Red a stiff challenge before falling 14-8 in the NCAC Tournament championship game.
The Tigers rank at the top of the conference in batting average, runs, hits, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, least strikeouts, and fielding percentage, and Wittenberg also ranks among the national leaders in several offensive categories as well, most prominently batting average at .387. Ranked in the top 20 in both national polls and the final NPI ratings, Wittenberg earned an an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament and will make the program's first national appearance since 1994.
Throughout the regular season, the Tigers continued to thrive at the dish. Rodriguez logged 58 hits and drove in 64 runs to lead the conference white batting .392 and led the conference in home runs with 15, a new school record. Chilicki batted .426 with 69 hits and 53 RBIs. Nemunaitis recorded 71 hits to lead the NCAC and break the school record, and he logged 48 RBIs with a batting average of .461 while leading the conference in hit by pitch with 22.
MacAuley batted .376 with 56 hits and 32 RBIs, primarily in the nine-spot in the lineup, and in the field, he finished second in the NCAC in assists. Gladden put up 46 hits and 46 RBIs while batting .354. Turner batted .467 and drove in 22 runs with 50 hits. Marshall, primarily in the designated hitter spot, collected 48 hits and 39 RBIs while batting .384. Rust had a record of 7-0 on the season with a 3.20 ERA and Thewes put together a record of 6-2 with a 3.47 ERA while finishing second in the conference in innings pitched and strikeouts with 69.1 and 69. Applegate rounds out the All-NCAC selections, as he recorded 55 hits and 41 RBIs, all while batting .362.