DIII End of Year Awards

Nick Herfordt

Photo: Andrew Mazzone (Claremont McKenna Athletics)

NCAA DIII

CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR - Harry Genth, Haverford Fords & Andrew Mazzone, C-M-S Stags

Haverford’s Harry Genth hit .428 with 15 doubles, two triples and 23 home runs in only 145 at bats to slug 1.034 with a .556 on base percentage. The senior second baseman also added 31 stolen bases and was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year for a second time. His 1.034 slugging percentage is tops nationally and his .59 home runs per game lead the nation. He led the Ford to their most wins since 2016 as the team reached the Centennial Conference final.

Andrew Mazzone has been an accomplished slugger at the DIII level for five seasons. After spending four years at Dickinson, he batted .404 and set the school record for home runs at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last season with 20 and helped the team advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.

This season he is batting .511 with 12 doubles and 17 home runs for a second-in-the-nation 1.000 slugging percentage and tops in DIII .637 OB% as the Stags are set to play Endicott for a spot in the DIII College World Series. In the Regional final against UW-La Crosse, Mazzone was intentionally walked ten times in two games after going 6-6 with a home run against Buena Vista.

RUNNER UP

While Spalding’s 28-14 record and third place finish in the SLIAC wasn’t enough to get them into the NCAA postseason, they did have one of the top players in the county. Senior shortstop Ethan Tuttle batted .494 with 19 doubles, five triples, three home runs and 28 stolen bases for the Golden Eagles.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR -Jason Gilman, Kean Cougars

Kean has had an exceptional season and will meet Salve Regina this weekend for the opportunity to advance to the DIII CWS. A large part of their success this spring has been an exceptional pitching staff that has a team 3.19 ERA which is fifth in DIII. The ace of the staff, and NJAC Pitcher of the Year, is senior standout Jason Gilman. He was named NJAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.

On the year Gilman has a 1.89 ERA and was credited with the win in all 13 games he appeared in. He has thrown 95 ⅓ innings and only allowed 61 hits (.184 b/bvg) while striking out a DIII leading 128 batters. He has only walked 28 batters to generate a tiny 0.93 WHIP. In 332 at bats, only 13 times was a batter able to earn an extra base hit.

RUNNERS UP

Cortland has advanced to the NCAA postseason for 32 consecutive seasons as they continually have players like Luis Misla on the roser. The senior earned honors as the SUNYAC Pitcher of the Year for the second season as he finished the season with a 2.03 over twelve starts. In 71 innings he only allowed 51 hits while striking out 115 batters (14.58 K/9). Opposition was only able to hit nine extra base hits against him while batting .195.

The Super Regionals could have two of the top pitchers facing off with Salve Regina’s Brayden Clark potentially pairing up against Jason Gilman and Kean. Clark has been named the NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year and NEWMAC Championship Most Outstanding Player as he currently has a 1.75 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 13 appearances on the mound. He has thrown 82 ⅓ innings with 110 strikeouts while only allowing 61 hits and 18 walks.

Every top team has at least one ace on the staff, and for top ranked Johns Hopkins, that pitcher is sophomore Drew Grumbles. Grumbles has already been named the Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year as his 1.65 ERA is seventh in the nation. In 65 ⅓ innings he has only allowed 46 hits while striking out 41 batters.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - Zach Eldred, SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles

Brockport set a new program record for single-season wins and won its first Empire 8 Championship this season. They finished with a 36-5-2 record. Zach Eldred was a substantial contributor to the team’s success at the plate as well as on the mound. He led the team in batting with a .414 average, 16 doubles and 18 home runs on his way to a .840 slugging percentage. He was perhaps more formidable on the mound with a 1.89 ERA over 62 innings in which he only allowed 45 hits while striking out 73. He was named the Empire 8 Conference at the end of the regular season.

RUNNER UPS

Mentioned above, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Andrew Mazzone’s ,511 batting average increases the Stag’s team average from .309 to .325. He is such a feared hitter that In the NCAA Regional finals against UW-La Crosse, Mazzone was intentionally walked ten times in two games following his 6-6 with two home runs performance against Buena Vista in an elimination game.

Maryville had an accomplished season which included their highest winning percentage in school history, the most wins in team history, their second-ever NCAA tournament win and a regular season title. It’s unlikely the team would have met those marks without Colin Dunworth. He led the Scots in runs, doubles,triples, home runs, total bases while batting .435 with 12 stolen bases.

Keystone won its 20th consecutive conference championship with a 15-1 record in the United East and their second UE tournament title with strong support of their catcher, Andy Rivas. The senior batted .441 and slugged .838 for the Giants with 13 home runs and a .515 on base percentage. He earned United East Tournament MVP honors and was the conference’s First Team catcher.

Salve Regina’s Andrew Wertz has been phenomenal at the back end of the team’s bullpen. In 21 appearances he has thrown 24 ⅓ innings and only allowed nine hits and a pair of earned runs. He had a 0.37 ERA, opposition is batting .108 and is averaging over 12 K/9.

COACH OF THE YEAR - Neil Ioviero, Kean Cougars

In his 28th season at the helm of the Kean University baseball program, Neil Ioviero—already the winningest coach in Kean Athletics history across all sports—has added another remarkable chapter to his storied career. After finishing 27–15 last season and missing out on the NCAA postseason, expectations for the Cougars entering 2025 were modest. But instead of a repeat performance, Ioviero’s squad has emerged as one of the top teams in the nation.

Kean currently sits at 38–8 and is just two wins away from advancing to the NCAA Division III College World Series. The Cougars dominated conference play, going 17–1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, capturing the regular season title, and earning the top seed in the NJAC Tournament. A return to the College World Series would mark Kean’s first appearance since 2013, when the program made six trips in seven seasons.

This season may well be Ioviero’s finest work yet, cementing his legacy and reaffirming Kean’s place among the Division III elite.

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