DUDLEY, Mass. (6/15/2026) – Seven CNE All-Conference honors, six CNE weekly awards, a playoff berth for the sixth straight season under Coach
Tim Mayo, and two national recognitions, the 2026 baseball season has a lot to highlight and things to look back on.
Head Coach
Tim Mayo finished his eighth season with the Bison with a 23-19 overall record, including a 10-8 conference record. His program finished first in the Conference of New England in stolen bases with 110, second in the CNE in home runs (33) and double plays turned (39), while finishing third in hits (425) and RBI (273). Nichols also recorded the lowest stolen bases allowed percentage in the conference with a .692. The Bison finished in fourth place in the CNE, maintaining the program's run of clinching a playoff spot every year Mayo coached for the Bison. Mayo's squad saw seven CNE All-Conference entries for the second straight season, with sophomore outfielder
Ryan Keating and sophomore utility player
Andrew Rocca earning first team honors. His program earned six CNE weekly honors in the year, tying the most in program history.
The Bison opened Conference of New England play at home with an 11-10 win over Curry College. A two-home run day for sophomore
Collin Harty sparked the Bison's offense, while RBIs were distributed amongst seven different players on the team to cap off the comeback win. After splitting against Roger Williams, the Bison bounced back against Gordon College, recording a 7-0 and 5-4 win against the Fighting Scots to go 4-2 in conference play. Graduate student
Clark Churchill and senior
Aidan Whitten got the wins on the mound for the series sweep.
The Bison went 7-1 in the last eight games of the regular season, including a six game winning streak in that period. In the run, they averaged 9.25 runs per game while only allowing 3.12 runs per game.
Adam Pivacek,
Jack Raymond, and
Mitch Brown all won CNE weekly honors in this two week period, while Pivacek and Brown were placed on D3Baseball.com National Team of the Week, making it the third and fourth time in program history that the Bison saw a student-athlete represented on the team.
After earning the fourth seed, the Bison faced fifth-seeded Roger Williams University in the first round of the CNE tournament. After falling behind 3-0 early, Nichols erupted for a six-run second inning to seize control of the game.
Julian Galvan and
Anthony Hackert delivered RBI singles before
Ryan Keating launched a massive grand slam, flipping a 3-0 deficit into a 6-3 Bison lead after two innings. The Hawks exploded for five runs in the fifth to reclaim a 9-6 advantage, but they answered immediately, with
Tyler Ladouceur, Keating,
Kyle Birks, and
Collin Harty all getting RBI hits in the fifth and sixth innings to give the Bison a 10-9 lead. After extending the margin to 11-9 in the eighth, Brown shut the door in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season to secure the 11-9 postseason win, advancing them to the quarterfinals before they fell to the one-seeded Endicott College and two-seeded University of Hartford.
The end of season saw seven Bison receive All-Conference honors, with
Ryan Keating (OF) and
Andrew Rocca (Utility) receiving CNE All-Conference First Team honors, while
Anthony Hackert (2B),
Tyler Ladouceur (DH), and
Mitch Brown (RP) see their names on the second team, and
Collin Harty (1B) and
Clark Churchill (SP) make up the third team. Keating added more accolades to his standout 2026 campaign after being named to the 2026 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III All-Region II Second Team and the D3Baseball.com All-Region II Third Team.
SEASON LEADERS
Hits: Ryan Keating (
58 – Ranked 6th in CNE)
Home Runs: Collin Harty (
8 – Ranked 3rd in CNE)
RBI: Ryan Keating (
37 – Ranked 11th in CNE)
Runs: Ryan Keating &
Anthony Hackert (
58)
Total Bases: Ryan Keating (
98 – Ranked 5th in CNE)
Stolen Bases: Ryan Keating (
28 – Ranked 1st in CNE)
Innings Pitched: Clark Churchill (
75.0 – Ranked 4th in CNE)
Strikeouts: Mitch Brown (
51 – Ranked 9th in CNE)
Wins: Clark Churchill (
5 – Ranked 7th in CNE)
Saves: Mitch Brown,
Andrew Rocca, &
Nicholas Willand (
2 – Tied for 1st in CNE)
Complete Games: Clark Churchill (
5 – Ranked 1st in CNE)
Shutouts: Clark Churchill (
1 – Ranked 3rd in CNE)
SEASON AWARDS
CNE Player of the Week: Collin Harty (3/30) &
Adam Pivacek (4/27)
CNE Pitcher of the Week: Clark Churchill (3/23) &
Mitch Brown (5/4)
CNE Rookie of the Week: Charles MacElhiney (3/16) &
Jack Raymond (5/4)
D3Baseball.com Team of the Week: Adam Pivacek (DH) (4/29) &
Mitch Brown (RP) (5/6)
CNE All-Conference First Team: Ryan Keating (OF) &
Andrew Rocca (Utility)
CNE All-Conference Second Team: Anthony Hackert (2B),
Mitch Brown (RP), &
Tyler Ladouceur (DH)
CNE All-Conference Third Team: Collin Harty (1B) &
Clark Churchill (SP)
CNE Community Service Team: Carter Taillefer
ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III All-Region II Second Team: Ryan Keating (OF)
D3Baseball.com All-Region II Third Team: Ryan Keating (OF)
