DUDLEY, Mass. (6/2/2026) - The Nichols College Baseball program landed five selections on the 2026 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Baseball Team, as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon.
Seniors
Kyle Birks,
Julian Galvan, and
Aidan Whitten, graduate student
Clark Churchill, and sophomore
Ryan Keating are the five student-athletes representing the Bison on the CSC Academic All-District Baseball Team. The honor marks the second time Galvan, Whitten, and Churchill receive this honor, while Birks and Keating become first time honorees.
The 2026 Academic All-District Baseball Team, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions - NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. To be eligible for the honor, nominees must own a minimum 3.50 cumulative GPA, and position players must have competed in at least 90% of team games played or have started at least 66% of the total number of team games played. For pitchers, players must pitch at least 35 innings or appear in 17 games as a pitcher.
Birks, the catcher from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, appeared in 35 games for the Bison, starting in 30 of them. He recorded 39 hits, nine doubles, 30 runs, and 22 RBI at the plate, batting .258, while slugging .325 and posting an on-base percentage of .361. Behind the plate, he recorded 215 put outs and caught 16 batters stealing. The senior played a huge part in the Bison's CNE playoffs first round win over Roger Williams, posting four hits with two RBI. Birks also set his career high in RBI on April 14th, when he knocked in five RBI against Western New England. The finance major ended his time at Nichols with a 3.544 GPA.
Churchill, a graduate student pitcher, capped off his Nichols College career with another strong season, being named to the Conference of New England Third Team All-Conference as a starting pitcher after missing 2025 due to injury. He appeared in 15 games for the Bison, making ten starts. In 75 innings thrown, he recorded 48 strikeouts with a 4.80 ERA, including five complete games, which is the most in the CNE. He finished among the team leaders in innings pitched, strikeouts, and complete games. Churchill finished his undergraduate at Nichols with a 3.647 GPA before finishing his Master of Science in Counterterrorism with a 3.94.
Galvan, the 3.983 GPA general business major, played in 39 games at third base this season while starting 35. The Torrance, California native batted .268 with an on-base percentage at .297, recording 37 hits, 17 RBI, and 21 runs on the season. The senior turned ten double plays this season, with three of them coming in one game against Wesleyan College on April 29th. He recorded his first collegiate home run and two RBIs against Immaculata University in Mrytle Beach, South Carolina on the baseball program's spring break trip.
Keating, the Conference of New England First Team outfielder, appeared in 42 games and started 41 of them. The Wilbraham, Massachusetts native hit .343, totaling 58 hits, including 20 doubles to break the program's single-season record. He also slugged six home runs, 37 RBIs, and scored 38 runs while also swiping 28 bases, the most in the CNE. He led the team in hits, runs, RBI, doubles, total bases, and stolen bases, while ranking in the top ten among the conference leaders in nine offensive categories. He capped off the season with a .978 fielding percentage. Keating was placed on ABCA/Rawlings All-Region II Second Team and D3Baseball.com All-Region II Third Team for his performance this season. A business analytics major, he ended his sophomore year with a 3.661 GPA.
Whitten, a right-handed pitcher from Mystic, Connecticut, finished with a 3.716 GPA in finance. Appeared in 13 games for the Bison, making 11 starts for a 4-4 record after missing last season with an injury. The senior threw 67.1 innings, including two complete games, with 46 strikeouts and a 4.81 ERA. Whitten earned his first win of the season at Mitchell College, where he threw 5.1 innings and only allowed one run to take down the Mariners. In a complete game against Roger Williams on March 30th, he recorded season high eight strikeouts with only two walks in a 12-3 win.
