*Statistics used are from the regular season only.
DETROIT -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) announced its 2026 baseball postseason awards on Thursday between the second and third games of the GLIAC Tournament, and Wayne State was well represented once again. In total, nine Warriors were featured for the major award winners, First Team, Second Team, and Honorable Mention.
Outfielder
Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) and right-handed pitcher
Will Lowery (Grosse Ile, Mich. / [Kalamazoo Valley C.C.]) landed a spot on the First Team.
WSU's recipients on the Second Team included outfielder
Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]), right-handed pitcher
Gavin Nash (Howell, Mich. / Hartland), left-handed pitcher
Keegan Pulford-Thorpe (Aurora, Ont. / Newmarket [Central Florida / Georgia Highlands College]), and left-handed pitcher
Philip Miller (Flat Rock, Mich. / Woodhaven [Schoolcraft C.C. / Tusculum]).
Wayne State's two Honorable Mention slots included first baseman/outfielder
Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) and designated hitter/first baseman
Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline).
Last, but certainly not least,
Gabe Zeldes (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day) represented the Warriors as the Troy Berry Award winner, the program's second in the last four seasons joining Ryan Szlachcic in 2023. The honor, named for the University of Findlay head baseball coach, is presented annually to the GLIAC baseball player who best combines outstanding character and leadership on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.
First Team - Drew Hill - Outfield
Drew Hill, the 2024 GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year and Second Team All-GLIAC performer saw a return to form in 2026. That rookie season, Hill hit .327 before regressing to a .240 clip as a sophomore, but bounced back in a big way for his third go-around in the Green and Gold. The Wayne State right fielder hit .393 (35-for-89) in league play with 20 runs scored, four doubles, three triples, four home runs, 21 RBI, 57 total bases, 18 walks, six stolen bases (6-for-7), and a 1.135 OPS. Conference wide, Hill ranked among the top six for average, OPS, total hits, triples, total bases, and walks. Having started all 24 of the Warriors' GLIAC games, Hill registered multiple hits in 12 of them and three-base knocks in five contests. The left-handed slugger was hitting as high as .423 in late April following a stretch in which he finished with at least two hits in six of seven games.
First Team - Will Lowery - Starting Pitcher
Following 57 wins in two seasons at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the most in program history,
Will Lowery took his talents to Detroit and quickly became the ace of the staff. Lowery made seven appearances, six starts (two complete games), in league play with a 3-1 win-loss record, one save (2.2 IP vs. No. 6 GVSU to split series), 36 and one-third innings pitched, a 3.96 ERA (fifth in the GLIAC), .243 batting average against, 32 strikeouts, and 10 walks. The right-handed hurler gave up three earned runs or less in five of those six starts and two earned or fewer in four of them, none of which were more impressive than his first career start in a GLIAC contest. On March 20 at Parkside, Lowery went the nine-inning distance while recording Wayne State's first nine-inning no-hitter since 2019, and just the second in the last 22 years, with 119 pitches, one unearned run, one free pass, and 10 punchouts. Not only did that effort garner him the GLIAC Pitcher of the Week distinction, but also NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week recognition.
Second Team - Caleb Sanders - Outfield
Same story, different season as
Caleb Sanders was named Second Team All-GLIAC for the second instance in as many campaigns. Sanders played in 20 of Wayne State's 24 league games and was in the starting lineup for every one of those 20 while hitting .355 (27-for-76). Those 27 base knocks included four doubles, one triple, and four home runs to go with 15 runs scored, 17 RBI, 45 total bases, six walks, four hit-by-pitches, and six stolen bases in nine attempts. As good as he's been all season, the Warriors' final conference series against Purdue Northwest may have locked up this honor for Sanders. In those four outings, the Green and Gold outfielder went 8-for-14 (.571) at the plate, which raised his GLIAC average from just over the .300 mark at .306 to .355 after a .351 (27-for-77) clip in 2025.
Second Team - Gavin Nash - Starting Pitcher
Poised to become Wayne State's ace prior to the 2025 campaign,
Gavin Nash appeared in just four games before tearing his labrum and missing the rest of the season. Fast forward to this spring and Nash more than proved his value alongside
Will Lowery as part of the Warriors' one-two punch on the mound. Nash accounted for the second-best ERA in GLIAC play at 2.10 and did so across five appearances, all starts, with an even 30 innings pitched. In those 30 frames, the redshirt sophomore went 3-1 with two of WSU's four complete games (Lowery had other two), 26 punchouts and only five walks, the fewest free passes for any of the conference's qualified pitchers. Nash's first career complete game in a league performance came on March 21 at Parkside with seven innings pitched, five hits, two runs, one earned, no walks, and four strikeouts on 91 pitches.
Second Team - Keegan Pulford-Thorpe - Starting Pitcher
Granted another season of eligibility by the NCAA, his third at Wayne State,
Keegan Pulford-Thorpe took full advantage of it. Pulford-Thorpe made six appearances in GLIAC play, all of which were starts, with a 3-1 win-loss record, 35 frames of work, a 4.63 ERA, .246 batting average against, 33 strikeouts, and 13 walks. With an ERA over eight through those first three outings, the 2019 high school graduate was superb in the latter half of the conference slate to catapult himself into All-GLIAC consideration. In those final three efforts, Pulford-Thorpe accounted for 20 innings pitched, 12 hits allowed, four earned runs, six walks, 24 strikeouts, and only two extra-base hits. More specifically, his ERA was just 1.80 in that span as he held opposing batters to a measly batting average of .174 and became a staple in WSU's starting rotation.
Second Team - Philip Miller - Relief Pitcher
In his first and only season at Wayne State,
Philip Miller was simply sensational in GLIAC play. Miller appeared in seven league games, one as a starter, with a 3-0 win-loss record, one save, a 2.04 ERA, and 0.93 WHIP through 17 and two-thirds innings pitched. Opposing batters hit just .194 against the left-handed pitcher with 14 punchouts to just four walks and only one extra-base hit. Three of the four earned runs that Miller gave up came in one outing, a six-inning spot start at Davenport on March 29. Exclude that outing and his conference ERA was a meager 0.77 in 11 and two-thirds frames of work. The first-year Warrior may have shined brightest in his final GLIAC outing on April 25 against Purdue Northwest as he teamed up with starter
Evan Langlois for a combined no-hitter, the squad's second of the season and third in the last three campaigns. That day in five innings out of the bullpen, Miller's lone blemish was a hit batsman as he walked none and struck out six on an efficient 53 total pitches.
Honorable Mention - Bennett Hitzelberger - First Base/Outfield
Not much hasn't already been said about
Bennett Hitzelberger -- one of the greatest players in program history, a three-time All-GLIAC honoree and a senior that spent his entire career in the Green and Gold. A First Team recipient in 2024, the first baseman and left fielder secured back-to-back Honorable Mention nods. A career .345 hitter in 162 games played, Hitzelberger's senior season may have been his best. Joining Hill and Garza as the only Warriors to start all 24 league contests, the southpaw hit .360 (31-for-86) with 22 runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, five home runs, 17 RBI, 55 total bases, 16 walks, two hit-by-pitches, and 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts. Eight of those 24 games saw Hitzelberger finish with multiple hits including five at Roosevelt on April 17 and three against Purdue Northwest on April 24. That five-hit effort marked the program's first five-hit performance in nearly five years.
Honorable Mention - Owen Tuccinardi - Designated Hitter/First Base
Already a conerstone in Wayne State's lineup the past two seasons,
Owen Tuccinardi was the cleanup hitter the program needed him to be in 2026. Overall, Tuccinardi made 17 starts at that four hole in the lineup, second to
Drew Hill's 21, but he paced the squad in starts there for GLIAC play with 10. In 22 league appearances (21 starts), Tuccinardi hit .329 (25-for-76) with 20 runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, five home runs, 21 RBI, 49 total bases, 18 walks, and two stolen bases in two attempts. When it comes to slugging percentage, a baseball statistic measuring a batter's power and ideal for a middle-of-the-lineup bat, Tuccinardi's .645 conference clip was good for fifth. The junior's overall slugging percentage of .653 moved him up a spot in the GLIAC to fourth. In just league action, Tuccinardi racked up 10 multi-hit games and five multi-RBI performances.
Troy Berry Award - Gabe Zeldes - Outfield
Zeldes, one of the 10 male honorees for the Allstate NACDA Good Works Team, became Wayne State's second Troy Berry Award recipient (Ryan Szlachcic - 2023) in the past four seasons. The Exercise and Sport Science major with minors in Business Administration and Public Health earned Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) recognition for his first four semesters, including a 4.0 term (Winter 2024). He will be a recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award for the second consecutive year this summer, and the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team for a second straight season this spring. The junior is a member, and Vice President, of the WSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as well as Delta Epsilon Mu, a professional fraternity for students and professionals interested in health-related fields. Zeldes was selected to serve as the GLIAC National SAAC representative and won the Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects Award. Zeldes has donated over 250 hours in the community during his collegiate career, including 34 in 2025-26. This season, he's hit .214 (9-for-42) in 30 games (8 starts) with 11 runs, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 2 RBI, 3 walks, 5 hit-by-pitches, and 2 stolen bases.
