Baseball | April 22

DeKALB, IL – Senior Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) of the Northern Illinois University baseball team has been named a semifinalist for the National Pitcher of the Year, as announced by the College Baseball Foundation on Wednesday.
 
Vaisvila leads NIU with a 6-0 record, 62.2 innings pitched, a 2.73 earned run average and 62 strikeouts. He is second in the Mid-American Conference in wins and strikeouts and third in WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). Vaisvila is one of two MAC pitchers to have two complete games this season, going the distance in wins over Miami on March 21 and Bowling Green on March 28. He joins Toledo's Nathan Leininger as the only MAC pitchers on the National Pitcher of the Year semifinal list.
 
The senior left-hander is also one of five pitchers on the list to have earned the College Baseball Foundation's National Pitcher of the Week award. Vaisvila was National Pitcher of the Week, along with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Pitcher of the Week and MAC Co-Pitcher of the Week, on March 31 after his complete-game, one-hit shutout of Bowling Green. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and finished the game with 14 strikeouts, one shy of tying the NIU single-game record. It was the first NIU complete-game one-hitter since 2012 and first nine-inning shutout since 2019. D1Baseball ranked Vaisvila's performance as the best of the week of March 23.
 
A total of 43 pitchers were selected as semifinalists.
 
NIU opens a four-game homestand on Friday, April 24 with the series opener against Eastern Michigan at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park. First pitch is at 3 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--
 
2026 NATIONAL PITCHER OF THE YEAR AWARD SEMIFINALISTS
Name, Position, Classification, School, Conference
• Hunter Alexander, RHP, Senior, UCA, ASUN
• Cooper Allen, RHP, Junior, UNCW, CAA
• Andreas Alvares, RHP, Sophomore, Auburn, SEC
• Max Bayles, RHP, Junior, Santa Clara, WCC
• Ben Blair, RHP, Junior, Liberty, CUSA
• Chansen Cole, RHP, Sophomore, West Virginia, Big 12
• Sam Cozart, RHP, Freshman, Texas, SEC
• John Damozonio, RHP, Senior, Saint Mary's, WCC
• Jason DeCaro, RHP, Junior, North Carolina, ACC
• Mason Edwards, LHP, Junior, USC, Big Ten
• Andrew Evans, RHP, RS-Junior, Southern Illinois, MVC
• Jackson Flora, RHP, Junior, UC Santa Barbara, Big West
• Braden Gebhardt, LHP, Senior, Youngstown State, Horizon
• Caden Glauber, RHP, Freshman, North Carolina, ACC
• Lucas Hartman, RHP, Graduate, Virginia, ACC
• Aidan King, RHP, Sophomore, Florida, SEC
• Will Labonte, RHP, Freshman, Portland, WCC
• Ethan Lay, RHP, Senior, Sacramento State, WAC
• Nathan Leininger, RHP, Senior, Toledo, MAC
• Chris Levonas, RHP, Sophomore, Wake Forest, ACC
• Isaiah Magdaleno, RHP, Junior, Hawaii, Big West
• Michael Malki, RHP, Sophomore, Cal Baptist, WAC
• Jake Marciano, LHP, Sophomore, Auburn, SEC
• Walter McDuffie, RHP, Sophomore, North Carolina, ACC
• Wes Mendes, LHP, Junior, Florida State, ACC
• Wylan Moss, RHP, Sophomore, UCLA, Big Ten
• Mikiah Negrete, LHP, Senior, Cal State Fullerton, Big West
• Chris Olivier, RHP, Senior, Lamar, Southland
• Ryan Peterson, RHP, Junior, Sam Houston, CUSA
• Eli Pillsbury, LHP, RS-Junior, Jacksonville State, CUSA
• Logan Reddemann, RHP, Junior, UCLA, Big Ten
• Bryce Riggs, RHP, Junior, Eastern Illinois, OVC
• Albert Roblez, RHP, Senior, Oregon State, Independent
• Michael Sharman, LHP, Senior, Clemson, ACC
• Patrick Steitz, RHP, RS-Senior, VCU, A-10
• Dakota Stone, LHP, RS-Junior, North Florida, ASUN
• Cayden Suchy, LHP, Sophomore, UConn, BIG EAST
• Max Vaisvila, LHP, Senior, Northern Illinois, MAC
• Tomas Valincius, LHP, Sophomore, Mississippi State, SEC
• Dylan Volantis, LHP, Sophomore, Texas, SEC
• Dax Whitney, RHP, Sophomore, Oregon State, Independent
• Maxx Yehl, LHP, RS-Junior, West Virginia, Big 12
• Bradley Zayac, RHP, Sophomore, Liberty, CUSA