KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Five student-athletes from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) were named to one of the three NAIA Baseball All-America teams, presented by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings, the national office announced Thursday.
Selections were made by members of the ABCA and the NAIA-Baseball Coaches Association All-America Committee. The ABCA All-America Team was first recognized in 1949 and now spans nine divisions: NCAA Divisions I, II, and III; NAIA; NJCAA Divisions I, II, and III; Pacific Association Division; and high school.
Carter Allen and Riley Gwin, both of Kansas Wesleyan University, earned spots on the All-America First Team. Both were unanimous first-team All-KCAC honorees when the conference announced its all-conference honorees, and were key parts of a Kansas Wesleyan team that won the regular-season conference title with a 32-4 overall record and secured the conference tournament title for the second season in a row. Allen was also named the 2026 KCAC Baseball Player of the Year.
JT Maloney of Oklahoma Wesleyan was named to the All-America Second Team, while fellow Eagle Daurys Manzanillo and also Chris Finocchario of Kansas Wesleyan earned spots on the All-America Third Team. Maloney, Manzanillo, and Finocchario, like Allen and Gwin, were unanimous All-KCAC First Team honorees.
The NAIA also announced its major individual awards, honoring Carter Claerhout of Bellevue (Neb.) as Player of the Year and Josh Landry of Hope International (Calif.) as Pitcher of the Year.
In his first season at Bellevue, Claerhout made an impact not only on the Bruins and the Frontier Conference, but across the NAIA. The senior collected an impressive list of accolades, earning NAIA National Player of the Week honors twice, Frontier Conference Player of the Week recognition five times, Frontier Conference Player of the Year, and First Team All-Conference honors. He was also named Bellevue's Male Athlete of the Year. The first baseman anchored one of the nation's most potent offenses. Bellevue led the NAIA with a .361 team batting average, fueled by Claerhout's association-leading .491 mark at the plate. He also leads the NAIA with 29 home runs and ranks fifth nationally with 86 RBIs.
Landry wrapped up his third season with the Royals by posting a stellar 1.70 ERA, the second-best mark in the NAIA. The Long Beach, Calif., native earned 11 wins across 14 appearances while logging 84.2 innings and recording 109 strikeouts. His 109 punchouts added to an impressive career total of 250. Opposing hitters managed just a .224 batting average against Landry, who surrendered only eight home runs all season. He recorded double-digit strikeouts in six outings and finished the year throwing back-to-back complete-game shutouts against Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) and Texas A&M University-Victoria.
Additionally, Sam Kwapnioski of Doane (Neb.) was named the Hank Burbridge Champion of Character.
First Team
| C |
Cade Marquardt |
 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
| C |
Tyler Renn |
 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
| 1B |
Carter Claerhout |
 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
| 2B |
Carter Roth |
 |
Doane (Neb.) |
| SS |
Caden Petrey |
 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
| 3B |
Allan Gil Fernandez |
 |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
| OF |
Carlos Sanchez |
 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
| OF |
Aamir Mitchell |
 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
| OF |
Derick Andiarena |
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
| OF |
Brayden Manning |
 |
Taylor (Ind.) |
| DH |
Carter Allen |
 |
Kansas Wesleyan |
| UT |
Jordan Malott |
|
Taylor (Ind.) |
| SP |
Ibrahim Gonzalez |
 |
Mid-America Christian (Okla.) |
| SP |
Josh Landry |
 |
Hope International (Calif.) |
| SP |
Brock Lucas |
|
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
| SP |
Canyon Geren |
 |
Milligan (Tenn.) |
| RP |
Riley Gwin |
|
Kansas Wesleyan |
Second Team
| C |
Cesar Grau |
 |
Northwestern Ohio |
| C |
Jack Ferguson |
 |
Indiana Tech |
| 1B |
Josh Shelly |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan |
| 2B |
Keegan Martin |
 |
Webber International (Fla.) |
| SS |
JT Maloney |
 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
| 3B |
Nick Hill |
|
Mid-America Christian (Okla.) |
| OF |
Ronnie Rowley |
 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
| OF |
Kolton Reynolds |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan |
| OF |
River Pecina |
 |
Marian (Ind.) |
| OF |
Carlos Hidalgo |
 |
Missouri Baptist |
| DH |
Brendon Vela |
 |
Texas Wesleyan |
| UT |
Ronald Almanzar |
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
| SP |
Tyler Pyles |
 |
Midway (Ky.) |
| SP |
Kade Linn |
 |
Louisiana Christian |
| SP |
Matthew Davis |
 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
| SP |
Justin Jackson |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan |
| RP |
Brody Burnette |
|
Bellevue (Neb.) |
Third Team
| C |
Diego Mendoza |
 |
Shawnee State |
| C |
Xavier Lerma |
|
Bellevue (Neb.) |
| 1B |
Ty Mathews |
|
Webber International (Fla.) |
| 2B |
Payton Fort |
 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
| 2B |
Owen Willard |
 |
Huntington (Ind.) |
| SS |
Jace Nagler |
 |
Eastern Oregon |
| SS |
Peyton Watts |
|
Georgia Gwinnett |
| 3B |
Zac Fruend |
|
Columbia (Mo.) |
| 3B |
Isaiah Morales |
 |
The Master's (Calif.) |
| 3B |
Edrien Martinez |
 |
Faulkner (Ala.) |
| OF |
Trey Smith |
|
Georgia Gwinnett |
| OF |
Bronx Lewis |
 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
| OF |
Chris Finocchario |
|
Kansas Wesleyan |
| OF |
Daurys Manzanillo |
|
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
| OF |
Kevin Flores |
 |
Judson (Ill.) |
| OF |
Ryan Malzahn |
 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
| DH |
Pedro Vasquez |
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
| DH |
Christopher Alcantara-Diaz |
 |
Wilberforce (Ohio) |
| UT |
Camden Karlin |
 |
Baker (Kan.) |
| SP |
Blane Zeplin |
 |
A&M-Victoria (Texas) |
| SP |
Colby Reynolds |
 |
Johnson (Tenn.) |
| SP |
Casey Farrell |
 |
Arizona Christian |
| SP |
Jonathan Jones |
|
A&M-Victoria (Texas) |
| RP |
Jordan Lennartson |
 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
—KCAC—