DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced its 27th District Players of the Year winners for all nine U.S. districts for the 2025 season. These 2025 stalwarts include the four finalists for the prestigious Dick Howser Trophy presented by The Game Headwear which will be awarded on June 13 in Omaha, Nebraska: Arkansas junior shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, UCLA sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Tennessee junior starting pitcher Liam Doyle and Florida State junior shortstop Alex Lodise.
2025 NCBWA Division I District Players 0f the Year
District 1 (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania)
Will Jones, Northeastern, Grad., SP, South Hamilton, Mass.
11-1, 2.63 ERA, 15 GP, 15 GS, 0 CG, 0/5 SHO, 72.0IP, 55H, 26R, 21ER, 19BB, 75K, .213 Opp. BA, 1.03 WHIP
District 2 (Connecticut, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington D.C.)
Ryan Daniels, Connecticut, Jr., 2B, Meriden, Conn.
.365 BA, 54GP, 53GS, 203AB, 69R, 74H, 15 2B, 4 3B, 18HR, 75RBI, 40BB, 41K, 10/13 SB/SBA, .476 OB%, .744 SLUG
District 3 (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida)
Liam Doyle, Tennessee, Jr., SP, Derry, N.H.
10-3, 2.84 ERA, 18 GP, 16 GS, 0 CG, 0/3 SHO, 92.0IP, 58H, 32R, 29ER, 30BB, 158K, .178 Opp. BA, 0.96 WHIP
Alex Lodise, Florida State, Jr., St. Augustine, Fla.
.405 BA, 55 GP, 55 GS, 227 AB, 61R, 92H, 18 2B, 3 3B, 17 HR, 67 RBI, 26BB, 49K, 6/6 SB/SBA, .473 OB%, .736 Slug
District 4 (Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland)
Jacob Morrison, Coastal Carolina, r-So., SP, Flushing, Mich.
11-0, 2.19 ERA, 16 GP, 15 GS, 0 CG, 0-2 SHO, 0 SV, 90.1 IP, 62H, 22R, 22ER, 19BB, 89K, .191 Opp BA, 0.90 WHIP
Jake Knapp, North Carolina, Grad., SP, Greensboro, N.C.
13-0, 1.98 ERA, 15 GP, 14 GS, 2 CG, 0 SHO, 95.11IP, 63H, 25R, 21ER, 16BB, 85K, .186 Opp. BA, 0.83 WHIP
District 5 (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin)
Carson Tinney, Notre Dame, So., C, Castle Pines, Colo.
.348 BA, 48GP, 46GS, 158AB, 52R, 55H, 13 2B, 0 3B, 17 HR, 53 RBI, 34 BB, 40K, 1/1 SB/SBA, .498 OB%, .753 SLUG
District 6 (Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)
Kyson Witherspoon, Oklahoma, Jr., SP, Jacksonville, Fla.
10-4, 2.65 ERA, 16 GP, 16 GS, 1 CG, 1/2 SHO, 95.0IP, 73H, 39R, 28ER, 23BB, 124K, .208 Opp. BA, 1.01 WHIP
District 7 (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana)
Weihwa Aloy, Arkansas, Jr., SS, Wailuku, Hawai’i
.355 BA, 59 GP, 59 GS, 242 AB, 77 R, 86 H, 18 2B, 1 3B, 20 HR, 64 RBI, 30BB, 58K, 8/11 SB/SBA, .440 OB%, .686 SLUG
District 8 (Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana)
Jordy Oriach, New Mexico, Jr., DH, Haverhill, Mass.
.388 BA, 52GP, 52GS, 214AB, 65R, 83H, 25 2B, 2 3B, 16 HR, 63 RBI, 29 BB, 29K, 1/2 SB/SBA, .470 OB%, .748 SLUG
District 9 (California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, Alaska)
Roch Cholowsky, UCLA, So., SS, Chandler, Ariz.
.370BA, 61GP, 61GS, 230AB, 78R, 85H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 23 HR, 72 RBI, 44BB, 28K, 7/7 SB/SBA, .500 OB%, .761 SLUG
Many of these standouts led their teams to conference titles and NCAA postseason activity, and all have been recognized regionally or nationally for their 2025 performances. Several are expected to be selected for the NCBWA All-America squads next week.
From District 1, Jones, of Northeastern, might be the comeback story of the year in Division I baseball. The Coastal Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year is tied for No. 3 nationally with 11 wins after encountering Tommy John surgery while he was a high school pitcher. The 6-foot-5 lefthander was able to work himself back into a starter’s role in 2024 at NU and had a 4-2 record entering. He also was No. 4 nationally prior to NCAA Regionals with a 1.09 ERA and paced the Huskies to their best record in school history at 49-11.
District 2’s Daniels was Big East Conference Player of the Year while batting .372 in league games and posting 34 RBI in these contests to top the circuit. He started in the outfield and at second base and had the best OPS in the BEC at 1.200. His .365 average, .476 on-base percentage, 68 RBI, 64 runs, 14 doubles and four triples were all team-high stats for the year, while his home runs totals, 134 total bases and walks were second among all Huskies.
The co-recipients from District 3 already have captured conference Player and Pitcher of the Year kudos, respectively.
Tennessee’s Doyle was the 2025 SEC Pitcher of the Year and first team All-SEC starter for the defending NCAA champions. He is tops nationally with 158 strikeouts in 92 innings of work and also leads the SEC In pitching victories with 10. The lefthander is second In the conference with a 2.84 earned run average, tops the nation with 15.5 strikeouts per nine innings and has allowed opposing hitters a .178 batting mark for second place among all SEC hurlers.
Florida State’s Lodise was tabbed as the 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and helped the Seminoles climb as high as second and third in various national polls in '25. The 2025 ACC Defensive Player of the Year leads the Seminoles with a .405 batting average, 1,209 OPS, 38 extra-base blows among his 92 total hits (tops in the ACC), 67 RBI and a .736 slugging percentage via 167 total bases. The North Florida native also has made just five errors in 205 total chances and has had a hand in 32 double plays.
From District 4, Coastal Carolina’s Morrison netted Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year laurels and is tied for third nationally with 11 victories. In conference assignments only, he was 8-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 10 starts. The 2025 Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist also struck out 65 batters in 63-plus Sun Belt innings to lead the Chanticleers to the league championship and overall record of 51-11 prior to the NCAA Auburn Super Regional. He was a key cog in CCU’s 25-4 regular-season finish in the SBC conference and has ranked among the top five nationally all season in multiple pitching categories.
District 5 standout Tinney was the first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference catcher and a semifinalist for the prestigious Buster Posey Award as DI Catcher of the Year. He tied for the ACC lead in home runs in conference contests with 12 in 30 encounters and second in ACC-only on-base percentage with .491 as well as conference play OPS at 1.322. He batted a solid .348 in ACC skirmishes and was third in ACC slugging percentage at .831. Tinney has been rated as one of the top backstoppers in Notre Dame’s lengthy annals.
In District 6, Witherspoon, the twin brother of Sooners right-handed pitcher Malachi Witherspoon, was the ace of the Sooners staff with his 10-4 mark to tie for the most pitching victories in the SEC. The ace righthander pitched OU into the finals of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional in the school’s first season as a Southeastern Conference member. He was among NCAA leaders as well with 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings and was 20th in the country with a 5.39 strikeouts to walk ratio. He also allowed just 2.2 walks per nine innings of venerable coach Skip Johnson.
Aloy, from District 7, has joined 2015 Dick Howser Trophy recipient and MLB star Andrew Benintendi as the only two Razorbacks to be chosen as SEC Players of the Year. The junior shortstop who also has started 119 consecutive games since February 2024 tops the Razorbacks in almost every category with 18 home runs (ninth-most in school season history), runs scored with 77 and hits with 87. He also sports a team-leading on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.126 and has committed just five errors in 205 fielding chances for a .976 fielding percentage.
The Northwest and Far West area’s District 8 honoree Oriach enjoyed one of the top individual campaigns in Lobos history with his team-leading .388 batting average and multiple accomplishments. The Mountain West Conference Player of the Year was close to capturing the loop’s hitting Triple Crown as he tied for the MWC lead in hits with 83, was tops with 65 runs scored, second in batting average at .388, and tops in MWC in doubles with 25 and total bases with 160. He was a multi-week MWC Player of the Week in ’25.
UCLA’s slugging Cholowsky, of Chandler, Arizona, and District 9 kingpin was chosen as Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and the circuit's Defensive player of the year (a first in UCLA history) in the Bruins first season in the conference. He also was UCLA's first conference player of the year since the 1998 season in the Pac-12 Conference. The first team All-Big Ten choice selection helped the Bruins go on a late-season tear with a pre-NCAA Los Angeles Super Regional Record of 45-16 – UCLA’s most victories since 2019.
Among the previous recipients of NCBWA District Players of the Year since 1998 have been Florida State catcher Buster Posey, Florida all-purpose standout Jac Caglianone, Baylor pitcher-DH Jason Jennings, USC and Vanderbilt star pitcher Mark Prior, Vanderbilt lefty pitcher David Price, Arkansas OF Andrew Benintendi, Rice all-time 3B Anthony Rendon and San Diego State righty hurler Stephen Strasburg, among others.
NCBWA voting membership for the District Players of the Year includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport's only college media-related organization, founded in 1962. These players have been awarded annually since 1998 except for 2020 due to the COVID-19-shortened season.
All honorees will be recognized during the news conference for the presentation of the Dick Howser Trophy presented by The Game Headwear at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., on Friday, June 13, at 10 a.m. (CDT) to the NCAA Division I baseball player of the year.