DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its NCAA Division II National Players of the Week awards for the 2025 season and the week ending on March 2, 2025. West Texas A&M senior infielder/designated hitter Dylan Fesperman is the National Hitter of the Week and West Chester (Pa.) redshirt junior lefty Julian Costa is the National Pitcher of the Week.
Fesperman (Phoenix, Ariz. / Arizona State) tied an all-time NCAA Division II record and set an all-time LSC record with 13 runs batted in during a 26-6 win in seven innings over UT Permian Basin. In the historic performance on Feb. 28 at Wilder Park in Canyon, Texas, Fesperman was 5-for-5 with two home runs, two triples and a double. He scored four times in the conference series opener. Fesperman joins the Division II record book for all-time RBI in a single game with Alabama-Huntsville’s Kevin Nichols (1996) and Nichols State’s Bob Ritchie (1965). He broke the LSC record of 11 RBI set by Harding’s Mike Huebner in 1999. Over the four-game series, Fesperman was 9-for-16 – recording at least one hit in each game – and added a pair of runs and RBI.
Costa (Mantua, N.J. / Clearview HS) tossed a seven-inning, no-hitter on Friday to kick off the Golden Rams weekend visit to the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, North Carolina. Costa became just the second WCU pitcher to a throw no-no and the first since Nicholas Frank in 1947 after carrying a perfect game into his final batter of the seventh inning. Costa yielded a walk to this batter before ending the game with a lazy fly ball to center after opening the seventh with his ninth strikeout of the afternoon en route to his second victory and first complete game of the season.
Division II Regional Players of the Week:
- Atlantic: Shane Stossel, Mansfield (Hitter); Julian Costa, West Chester (Pitcher)
- Central: Cash Jay, Washburn (Hitter); Nathan Culley, Minnesota State (Pitcher)
- East: Nolan DeAndrade, Franklin Pierce (Hitter); Dawson Montesa, Adelphi (Pitcher)
- Midwest: Matthew Brimacombe, Rockhurst (Hitter); Keegan Batka, Davenport (Pitcher)
- South: Riley Orr, Auburn Montgomery (Hitter); CJ Williams, Tampa (Pitcher)
- South Central: Dylan Fesperman, West Texas A&M (Hitter); Ulises Quiroga, Texas A&M-Kingsville (Pitcher)
- Southeast: Dylan Driver, Catawba (Hitter); Thomas Paxton, Belmont Abbey (Pitcher)
- West: Jake Entrekin, Point Loma (Hitter); David Bell, Western Oregon (Pitcher)
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2025 NCBWA Division II Players of the Week:
• Feb. 6: Lance Barnett, Cameron (Hitter, South Central); Drake LaRoche, Valdosta State (Pitcher, South)
• Feb. 13: Brevin McCool, Lubbock Christian (Hitter, South Central); Kolby Dougan, Pittsburg State (Pitcher, Central)
• Feb. 20: Ahmad Fitts, Florida Southern (Hitter, South); Ryan Markwardt, Lubbock Christian (Pitcher, South Central)
• Feb. 27; Jackson Babcock, Colorado School of Mines (Hitter, South Central); Maddox Long, Harding (Pitcher, Central)
• March 6; Dylan Fesperman, West Texas A&M (Hitter, South Central); Julian Costa, West Chester (Pitcher, Atlantic)