Catano leads Rio quintet on All-RSC teams

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - University of Rio Grande sophomore catcher Gregory Catano headlines a group of five RedStorm players who have been named to the 2026 All-River States Conference Baseball teams.
     The league unveiled its All-Conference and Gold Glove teams, while also awarding its four major awards for Player, Pitcher, Freshman, and Coach of the Year during Thursday's first day of competition at the RSC Baseball Championship at VA Memorial Stadium.
     Catano, a native of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, was among those standouts named to the All-RSC First Team, while senior relief pitcher Schon Pespisa (El Monte, CA) and freshman utility KB Perkins (Chillicothe, OH) were among the Second Team honorees.
     Redshirt freshman pitcher Logan Martin (Wellston, OH) and sophomore shortstop Gehrig Cordial (South Charleston, OH) were among those tabbed as Third Team picks.
     Catano batted .313 with two home runs, seven doubles and 22 runs batted in. Defensively, he committed just two errors, had a .994 fielding percentage and threw out 23 runners attempting to steal.
     Pespisa posted a 3-0 record with four saves and a 1.62 earned run average in 12 relief appearances. He walked one and struck out 11 over 16-2/3 innings.
     Perkins hit .321 with one home run, eight doubles and 13 RBI. He also posted a 5-3 record as a pitcher and ranked second on the tean with 52 strikeouts.
     Martin finished 4-4 with a save and a 4.83 ERA, while striking out a club-high 64 batters. Cordial hit .270 and ranked second on the team in both home runs (4) and RBI (28).
     Each All-Conference selection and award winner was selected via a vote of the league's head coaches.
     Oakland City University was the most represented team on the All-Conference teams, with 10 Mighty Oaks earning recognition. Midway University followed the Mighty Oaks with eight overall selections, with Brescia University and Indiana University Southeast had seven selections each.
     IU Southeast was the top team in First Team honorees with five.
     Shawnee State joined Rio Grande by having five selections, with IU Columbus and Kentucky Christian both at three and IU Kokomo and WVU Tech rounding things out with two each.
     In addition to Catano, the All-RSC First Team featured starting pitchers Tyler Pyles of Midway, Brendan Whalen from IU Southeast, Oakland City's Landen Ray and Isaac Bellamy from Kentucky Christian; catcher Diego Mendoza of Shawnee State; first baseman Trevor Goodwin of IU Southeast; second baseman Jace Parnin from Shawnee State; IU Southeast third baseman Bryson Arnette; shortstop Joseph Massa of Brescia; outfielders Jack Amis and Eli Jones from Shawnee State, Brescia's Grant Huebner and Nazhir Bergen of Oakland City; designated hitter Caden Lockwood of IU Southeast; and utility selection Coulter Hamilton from IU Southeast.
     Along with Pespisa and Perkins, the All-RSC Second Team was comprised of starting pitchers Nathan McKissick of Midway, Ricardo Medrano from Shawnee State, Brescia's Brian Gonzalez and Andrew Combs from Kentucky Christian; catchers Oliver Hamilton from Oakland City and Connor Mitchuson of Brescia; first baseman Taylor Vorhees of Midway; second baseman Noah Atherholt from Midway; third baseman Marcos Arocho from Oakland City; shortstop Simon Gaines of Oakland City; outfielders Gabe Yonto of IU Southeast, Eric Correa from Oakland City, Brescia's Miguel Marcos and Carson McNulty of IU Columbus; and designated hitter Hayden Jones from Brescia.
     Joining Martin and Cordial on the All-RSC Third Team were starting pitchers Weston Harvey of IU Southeast, Xavier Hart from Midway and WVU-Tech's Marco Viteri Moran; relief pitcher Brenden Cole of Midway; catchers Aidan Sheetz of IU Columbus and Isaac Tencza from Midway; first baseman Jake Winzenread of Oakland City; second baseman Noah Wolf from IU Kokomo; third baseman Jaryn McLaughlin of Kentucky Christian; shortstop Wyatt Sutton from IU Columbus; outfielders Colt Whaley of Midway, Bryce Humphrey from Oakland City, Gabe Templeton of WVU-Tech and Brescia's Max Johnson; designated hitter Nate Montgomery of IU Kokomo; and utility pick Dicky Gonzalez from Oakland City.
     The River States Conference's Player of the Year award went to Mendoza. The Shawnee State catcher was within striking distance of the Triple Crown, finishing first in the league in runs batted in (63) and second in both batting average (.394) and home runs (13).
     Mendoza also led the RSC in slugging percentage at .706, and logged an RSC-best 120 total bases. He logged 40 of his 67 hits in conference play, leading the league.
     On the mound, the RSC Pitcher of the Year was awarded to Triple Crown winner Tyler Pyles of Midway University. Pyles led the conference in earned run average (2.10), wins (8) and strikeouts (86) as the ace of veteran head coach Luther Bramblett's staff.
     Pyles' numbers got even better in RSC play, with the lefthander going 5-0 with a 1.68 earned run average. Opposing hitters hit just .158 against Pyles in conference play, with the Eagle posting a WHIP of 0.91.
     The award for the league's Freshman of the Year was given to Hoffman. In his first year of college baseball, Hoffman started 39 games for the Mighty Oaks, hitting .387 with 39 runs scored and 24 runs batted in.
     Serving as the Mighty Oaks' designated hitter, the Evansville native logged 14 extra-base hits with 10 doubles, three triples, and one home run.
     In his first season at the helm, Vince Tornincasa brought IU Southeast back to the top of the conference and was honored by his peers as the 2026 RSC Coach of the Year.
     The Grenadiers earned a return trip to the NAIA Tournament - the program's eighth in the past 10 full seasons - thanks to a 22-5 conference record and a 35-14 record overall.
     The league also honored the top defensive players at each position as Gold Glove recipients.
     The unit included Pyles at pitcher, Hamilton at catcher, Kentucky Christian first baseman Eric Odell, Gonzalez at second base, WVU-Tech shortstop JJ Polyinale, Shawnee State third baseman Mason Reid, Amis in left field, Jones in center field and Christian Gerena of Kentucky Christian in right field.
     Additionally, the RSC announced the athletes recognized as their program's Champion of Character.
     Each team in each River States Conference sponsored sport is asked to nominate one athlete as their Champion of Character. These student-athletes best represent the NAIA's Champions of Character program and its five core values of Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.
     Rio Grande's honoree on the list was sophomore Carlos Mateo (Santo Domingo, D.R.).