SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.- Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year as he was one of two Golden Rams to earn All-Region honors on Friday afternoon. Costa also earned First Team All-Region honors, while
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central was a Second Team All-Region honoree.
Third baseman Brady McGuire of Seton Hill earned Regional Player of the Year honors, while Marc Marizzaldi of Seton Hill was named the Regional Coach of the Year. Similar to Costa and the Golden Rams, Seton Hill also started its Atlantic Regional Tournament with a victory over Charleston (W.V.) on Thursday, with a 5-2 victory over the Golden Eagles at Millersville.
With Costa's second major award of the Spring, he becomes the Golden Rams' second NCBWA Major Award winner since 2024, as
Anthony Boccio was named the Atlantic Region Player of the Year at the end of an outstanding 2024 season.
Costa is in the midst of a season for the ages as the redshirt-senior lefty tied the Golden Rams single-season win record in the NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday after breaking the Golden Rams career wins and strikeout records earlier this season. Following Thursday's victory vs Bloomsburg, Costa is 11-2 on the year with a 2.76 ERA and a .252 batting average against with 69 strikeouts in 75.0 innings of work, including four complete games and three shutouts. Costa is 2-0 in the postseason already, including a win in the PSAC Quarterfinals over Shepherd and a victory over Bloomsburg in the NCAA Tournament at Serpico Stadium on Thursday. The NCBWA Division II National Pitcher of the Week earlier this season, Costa also threw his second career no-hitter earlier this spring against Frostburg State, as he became the first and only Golden Ram to record two no-hitters in his career after becoming the first to record a no-no since 1947 last Spring in an early-season trip to Cary, North Carolina.
Smith, who transferred to West Chester from Mansfield ahead of the 2025-26 season, is in the midst of an excellent 2026 campaign, entering play on Friday batting .358 on the year with 16 doubles, six home runs, and three triples, scoring 34 runs and driving in 50 more. The sophomore outfielder is 11-for-11 on stolen base attempts and has worked 24 walks. Smith, who was a First Team All-PSAC East selection last week, is also just one of three Golden Ram starters with an OPS north of 1.000 at 1.093, as he is joined in this exclusive list by
Caleb Strawhecker (1.118) and
Austin Stalker (1.108).
West Chester will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at home against East Stroudsburg on the second day of the Atlantic Regional Tournament, as the Golden Rams and Warriors begin a best-of-three series to determine who will advance to the Super Regionals against the winner of the Millersville/Charleston best-of-three, happening at Millersville this weekend.
