Baseball's Yoshida Named Ivy League Rookie of the Year

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell baseball freshman right-handed pitcher

Ross Yoshida has been named the Ivy League's Rookie of the Year, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon during its annual All-Ivy awards release.

Yoshida is the fourth Cornell player to be named the conference's top newcomer, and the second in three years, joining

Mark Quatrani (2024). Bill Walkenbach (1995) and Kellen Urbon (2012) were the first two Big Red players to garner Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors. Yoshida became the 10th pitcher to win the award, and notably the third consecutive relief pitcher to do so, joining Urbon (2012) and Harvard's Callan Fang (2023).

In addition to his Rookie of the Year honor, Yoshida was named a Second Team All-Ivy selection after finishing his first collegiate season with a 3-1 record, one save and a 2.89 ERA over 43 2/3 innings. His ERA ranked as second-best in the Ivy League among qualifying pitchers. Holding opponents to an Ancient Eight-best .199 batting average (31-for-156), Yoshida also posted 42 strikeouts, the fourth-most by a Cornell freshman pitcher in program history and the most by a first-year hurler since

Noah Keller fanned 50 in 2023.

Across eight relief outings in Ivy League play, Yoshida recorded all of his decisions and had the Ivy League's third-best ERA (2.28) after allowing seven earned runs across 27 2/3 innings. He issued the fewest walks of any qualifying Ancient Eight hurler (four) and held opponents to a .170 batting average (16-for-94).

Closing out the regular season on a dominant run, the Orchard Park, N.Y., native yielded just two earned runs on six hits over his final six appearances and 19 2/3 innings, posting a 0.92 ERA and 0.46 WHIP and holding opponents to a .100 average (6-for-60).

Joining Yoshida as a second-team All-Ivy selection was senior

TJ Swidorski, who was named one of two utility players to the team. Swidorski finished the season batting .252 and had a team-high 25 RBI and tied for the team lead with four home runs. In Ivy League play, Swidorski batted .264 with three doubles, one home run and drove in a team-leading 16 RBI.

Freshman outfielder

Jake Hower was named an Honorable Mention All-Ivy selection after batting .306 with one double, one home run and six RBI in Ancient Eight play. Hower concluded the season with a .294 average, three doubles, two home runs and 17 RBI. His .433 on-base percentage led the team and was bolstered by a team-high 13 hit-by-pitches.

Junior second baseman

Owen Carlson was named Cornell's Academic All-Ivy selection. Carlson, who has a 4.03 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in economics, concluded the 2026 season with a .312 batting average, hitting three doubles and two home runs and driving in 12 runs. He drew 23 walks and struck out just 17 times on the season.

2026 ALL-IVY AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Mika Petersen, Brown

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Tate Evans, Yale

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ross Yoshida, Cornell

COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR: Brown

FIRST TEAM

SP – Thomas Shurtleff, Penn*

SP – Tate Evans, Yale*

SP – Dylan Reid, Brown

RP – Mac Burke, Dartmouth

C – Ernie Echevarria, Penn

1B – Gio Colasante, Harvard*

2B – Jack Kail, Columbia*

3B – DJ Dillehay, Brown

SS – Jack Rickheim, Harvard*

OF – Mike Petersen, Brown*

OF – Gavin Degnan, Penn*

OF – Jarrett Pokrovsky, Penn

UTIL – Garrett Larsen, Yale*

P/UTIL – Brady Kaufman, Princeton*

DH – Jack Warner, Penn

SECOND TEAM^

SP – Gio Colasante, Harvard

SP – Drew Nelson, Brown

SP – Thomas Santana, Columbia

RP –

Ross Yoshida, Cornell

C – Will Robbins, Princeton

1B – Nick Spaventa, Penn

2B – Mark Henshon, Brown

3B – Jack Dauer, Yale

SS – Matt Luigs, Brown

SS – Jay Secretarski, Penn

OF – Cole Fellows, Columbia

OF – Kaiden Dossa, Yale

OF – Alex Benevento, Brown

OF – Chris DePrima, Yale

UTIL –

TJ Swidorski, Cornell

UTIL – Bennett Crerar, Princeton

DH – Hunter Snyder, Columbia

HONORABLE MENTION

SP – Nate Isler, Dartmouth

SP – Daniel Cohen, Yale

SP – Nate Kugler, Dartmouth

SP – Marty Coyne, Penn

RP – Christian Keel, Brown

C – Owen Estabrook, Columbia

C – A.J. DeMastrie, Dartmouth

2B – Ryan Taylor, Penn

3B – Anthony Temesvary, Columbia

SS – Jimmy Chadwell, Columbia

SS – Tommy Googins, Princeton

OF – Ben Fishel, Columbia

OF –

Jake Hower, Cornell

DH – Bennett Crerar, Princeton

• • unanimous selection

^ - team expanded due to ties in voting