2026 Baseball Season Recap

LIMA, OH - The 2026 UNOH baseball team put together a historic campaign and cemented themselves as one of the program's top teams all-time spanning both on field and off field results. The Racers claimed their third consecutive regular season conference title marking the first three-peat in program history and the first for any WHAC team in fifteen seasons. During that stretch, UNOH has amassed a 92-11 record in conference play and have now won four of the last five regular season championships. The 2026 season was also highlighted by five victories against ranked opponents including a 12-4 win over No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan who went on to win the NAIA National Championship, 21-3.

They earned a bid to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round played in the Lawrenceville Brackett hosted by Georgia Gwinnett. After losing their first game, the Racers stayed alive with back-to-back elimination game victories against No. 23 Marian and Talladega becoming just the third UNOH team to win more than one game in the national tournament and the first since 2018.

The 2026 Racers also had historic team and individual performances throughout the season including the program's most runs (38), RBI (33), hits (28) and total bases (40) against a conference opponent, setting all four in the WHAC opener against Cornerstone on March 13, as well as the second most runs (29) and RBI (29) at Lourdes on April 6. They hit .330 as a team marking the program's best batting average since 2017 and third highest in program history while finishing second all-time in runs (502), doubles (124) and RBI (460). The team's .443 on base percentage is a new program record topping the previous mark of .438 set in 2017. UNOH also earned a top five spot in the program's 15 seasons with 18 triples, 871 total bases and a .499 team slugging percentage.

Individually, Casey Barnes tied the program's single game record for runs scored with six against Cornerstone and Fabian Romero drove in the most RBI in a game since 2018 with seven at Lourdes. Romero will end his two-year career at UNOH with the third best career batting average (.377) and on base percentage (.521) in program history. Transfer Cesar Grau put together one of the best single seasons in program history setting new high water marks for RBI (74), doubles (24) and Multi-RBI games (23). His .681 slugging percentage was the second best all-time while earning 380 putouts on the defensive side, the program's third most in a season and most since 2018. He was named the WHAC Newcomer of the Year, becoming just the second ever for the program and first since 2021. Grau was also named NAIA Second Team All-American becoming the program's first ever non-pitcher to earn that honor and first at any position since 2018.

Eliomar Otero also set a new single season record reaching base in 45 straight games while scoring 66 total runs, the second most ever in a season. Otero's career comes to close in 2026 and solidifies him as one of the most prolific players in the history of the program with seven career records and finishing in the top five all-time in seven other statistical categories. His career records include runs batted in (194), hits (258), doubles (59), home runs (29), total bases (418), sacrifice flies (20), and multi-hit games (76). He ends his tenure with the second most runs (193), multi-RBI games (48), assists (438) and double plays (85) landing third all-time in sacrfice hits (16) and stolen bases (68) with the fifth best career slugging percentage of .581.

The team's lone Gold Glove went to sophomore transfer Zach Grigalis at first base who made history after joining his brother, Tyler Grigalis (2023), as the first sibling duo to ever earn that honor.

On the mound this season, Racer hurlers earned a program record seven total shutouts and tied the record with twelve complete games. Sophomore Daniel Healy tied the single season mark with six of those complete games and senior Zach Cabell was right behind with five. The two both picked up three complete game shutouts tying the most ever in a season while Cabell earned 33 looking strikeouts, the program's most in a season since 2017. Six of those came in a 12-0 drubbing of Lourdes on April 3 where Cabell fanned eight more batters for 14 total strikeouts, the program's most since 2021 and second most ever in a seven-inning contest. His efforts this season earned him three WHAC Pitcher of the Week awards making him the first player or pitcher in program history to earn a weekly honor more than twice. Grau, Healy, Zach Grigalis and Jordan Davis combined with Cabell for a program record ten weekly conference awards this season.

Another senior, Sinjon Bobolia ends his career on the bump with the second most starts (32) and wins (19) with 164.0 innings pitched during his time with the Racers, the program's third most ever.

Daniel Healy became the first Racer to earn more than one WHAC Pitcher of the Year award while becoming just the second player in the history of the WHAC to claim that title in consecutive seasons. With a 17-3 record in just two seasons, Healy will be chasing history when he begins his junior campaign needing just six wins to claim the program record for career wins.

Head coach Kory Hartman was named the WHAC's Coach of the Year for a sixth time while reaching the 500-win plateau against Cleary on April 11.

Hartman's Racers also set new records off the field placing twelve players on the WHAC All-Academic Team with nine NAIA Scholar-Athlete mentions led by the program's first ever three-peat scholar-athlete, Sinjon Bobolia.

2026 UNOH Baseball

WHAC Regular Season Champions

Overall Record: 38-18

Conference Record: 25-3

Season Result: NAIA National Championship Opening Round (2-2)

National Rankings

Preseason: Unranked

Highest: Receiving Votes

Final: Receiving Votes

Key Wins

February 14: 6-2 @ (RV) IU-Southeast

February 22: 12-4 vs. #5 Tennessee Wesleyan (National Champions)

March 5: 15-7 @ #6 Cumberlands

March 22: 1-0 vs. #19 Indiana Tech

March 22: 6-3 vs. #19 Indiana Tech

May 12: 1-0 vs. #23 Marian (NAIA Opening Round)

May 12: 9-5 vs. Talladega (NAIA Opening Round)

Top Team Performances

Biggest Win: March 13 vs. Cornerstone, 38-7

Runs Scored: 38 vs. Cornerstone (3/13)

Hits: 28 vs. Cornerstone (3/13)

Doubles: 7 vs. Cornerstone (3/13)

Triples: 3 vs. Aquinas (3/28)

Home Runs: 4 vs. Cornerstone (3/15), @ Lourdes (4/3), @ Rochester Christian (4/12)

Runs Batted In: 33 vs. Cornerstone (3/13)

Total Bases: 40 vs. Cornerstone (3/13)

Stolen Bases: 6 @ #6 Cumberlands (3/5)

Strikeouts: 15 @ Georgetown (2/28), vs. UM-Dearborn (4/23)

Top Individual Performances

Runs Scored: 6 - Casey Barnes vs. Cornerstone (3/13) - Ties Program Record

Hits: 5 - Casey Barnes vs. Cornerstone (3/13), Nolan Hull @ Lourdes (4/6), Tyler Huff @ Defiance (4/19)

Runs Batted In: 7 - Fabian Romero @ Lourdes (4/6)

Total Bases: 10 - Eliomar Otero vs. Cornerstone (3/15)

Stolen Bases: 3 - Fabian Romero vs Cleary (4/11), Eliomar Otero vs. Aquinas (4/30)

Strikeouts: 14 - Zach Cabell @ Lourdes (4/3)

NAIA Awards

NAIA Preseason All-American: Eliomar Otero

NAIA All-American: Cesar Grau

Conference Awards

WHAC Coach of the Year: Kory Hartman

WHAC Pitcher of the Year: Daniel Healy

WHAC Newcomer of the Year: Cesar Grau

WHAC Gold Glove: Zach Grigalis (1B)

WHAC First Team: Fabian Romero, Eliomar Otero, Daniel Healy, Zach Grigalis, Cesar Grau, Zach Cabell

WHAC Second Team: Nolan Hull, Tyler Huff

WHAC Champions of Character Team: Zach Cabell

WHAC Player of the Week: Cesar Grau (2x), Zach Grigalis (2x)

WHAC Pitcher of the Week: Zach Cabell (3x - Program Record), Jordan Davis, Daniel Healy (2x)

Academic Honors

NAIA Scholar-Athlete: Sinjon Bobolia, Fabian Romero, Dalton Chiles, Chase Clardy, Austin Culbertson, Jordan Davis, Tyler Filinger, Daniel Healy, Jake Watson

WHAC Academic Team: Sinjon Bobolia, Austin Culbertson, Aidan Nugent, Eliomar Otero, Dalton Chiles, Chase Clardy, Parker Close, Jordan Davis, Tyler Filinger, Daniel Healy, Jake Watson