ARLINGTON, Texas – The Western Athletic Conference announced its annual postseason baseball awards. Utah Valley had two earn first team honors, with Hunter Katschke earning the nod at first base, and Kaden Carpenter earning an outfield spot. It's the fourth consecutive season that UVU has gotten two players on the first team.
 
"I'm very proud of the accomplishments of these two," said UVU head coach Nate Rasmussen.  "We made many changes within their approaches and mechanics, and both were rewarded for their perseverance through that process. Both came to work every day, and I'm excited about where their future will take them in this game."
 
Katschke earns his first selection to the All-Conference first team after earning second team honors at Utah Tech last season. He finished 2026, hitting .291 with a school record 22 homers, while adding 55 RBIs and finishing with a .704 slugging. The Las Vegas native finished with four multi-homer games this season, including in his UVU debut against Pacific.
 
In WAC play, Katschke finished with nine homers and 21 RBIs for the Wolverines offense, while 13 of his 21 hits during the span went for extra bases.
 
Carpenter earned first-team honors in his one season in Orem, where he finished hitting .338 in 54 games for UVU with 17 homers. He finished the season homering in five straight games while adding 58 RBIs for the Wolverines' offense this season. He added .313 against WAC pitching with eight home runs and 16 RBIs.
 
He earned WAC Hitter of the Week once this season after his performance against UC Riverside back in late February.
 
During Utah Valley's time in the Western Athletic Conference, UVU  had 11 first-team selections and 11 second-team selections.