Peterson named National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist
4/22/2026 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Sam Houston pitcher Ryan Peterson has earned midseason more midseason recognition as he has been named as a semifinalist for the National Pitcher of the Year Award by the College Baseball Foundation.Â
The honor is the third similar nod for the junior from Shiner, Texas who was named to Baseball America's 2026 Midseason Pitcher of the Year watch list in addition to Perfect Game's Midseason All-America third team earlier this year.Â
The CBF presents the Brooks Wallace Award (Nation's Most Outstanding Shortstop), the National Pitcher of the Year Award, the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, the Skip Bertman Coach of the Year Award, the George H.W. Bush Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Wayne Graham Award for Teaching Excellence.Â
The National Pitcher of the Year Award was first awarded in 2009 with San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg being the first winner. Other winners include Alex Whimmers of Ohio State (2010), UCLA's Trevor Bauer (2011), Stanford's Mark Appel (2012), Oklahoma's Jonathan Gray (2013), LSU's Aaron Nola (2014), Vanderbilt's Carson Fulmer (2015), Kent State's Eric Lauer (2016), Texas Tech's Steven Gingery (2017), Oregon State's Luke Heimlich (2018), Mississippi State's Ethan Small (2019), Arkansas' Kevin Kopps (2021), Cooper Hjerpe (2022), LSU's Paul Skenes (2023), Arkansas' Hagen Smith (2024) and North Carolina's Jake Knapp (2025).Â
Peterson has garnered such attention thanks to his 2026 season in which he has posted a 4-4 record with a 2.77 ERA, .199 opponent's batting average, and 79 strikeouts to just 17 walks over 61.2 innings in 10 starts. Â
He currently leads CUSA in both strikeouts and innings, while ranking second in opponent's batting average and fourth in ERA. Peterson is the only pitcher in CUSA to have gone at least 5.0 innings with 5+ strikeouts in all 10 of his starts in 2026 and earlier this season was named CUSA Pitcher of the Week after throwing the first complete-game shutout for a Bearkat pitcher since Heath Donica in 2017.Â
Peterson is one of 43 of the nation's best collegiate hurlers to be selected as a semifinalist for the award, also joined by fellow CUSA arms Ben Blair (Liberty), Bradley Zayac (Liberty) and Eli Pillsbury (Jax State). Â
Peterson is next scheduled to take the hill on Friday in the opener of a 3-game set against Middle Tennessee. First pitch from Don Sanders Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. in a game scheduled to be aired on ESPN+.Â
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