Southampton’s Raho Named as the 2026 HCBL Pitcher of the Year
Luke Raho (West Chester) of the Southampton Breakers pitched well as the ace of a staff that made it to the HCBL championship final for the third time in the last six seasons. Raho was recognized for his outstanding season as the 2026 HCBL Pitcher of the Year.
In five appearances on the mound for Southampton in the 2026 regular season, Raho was a perfect 4-0 on the mound with an ERA of 2.12. Raho struck out 22 batters in 21.0 innings pitched while allowing only three walks.
Raho was selected as the HCBL’s starting pitcher in the HCBL All-Star Game in Sag Harbor where he pitched a scoreless inning. In the HCBL semifinal for Southampton against North Fork, Raho pitched 6.1 innings allowing a run on six hits with seven strikeouts to send Southampton back to the championship final.
Raho is the ninth Southampton pitcher to be named as the HCBL Pitcher of the Year and the third Breaker in the last four years to win the award following John Kwiatkowski (2023, Manhattan) and Drew Sliwkowski (2025, UMass) as the most recent Breakers to win the award.
Close behind Raho in the HCBL voting for Pitcher of the Year in second place was Westhampton’s Joseph Hiller (Quinnipiac) who led the league in strikeouts with 37. 2026 HCBL Reliever of the Year Derek Desmarais (Tufts) of Sag Harbor finished in third place.
Rounding out the top five was Shelter Island’s Danny Kerr and Southampton’s Brevin Bezick (Rowan College at Gloucester).
| HCBL POTY Voting | Summer Team/College | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
| Luke Raho | Southampton/West Chester | 1 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
| Joseph Hiller | Westhampton/Quinnipiac | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| Derek Desmarais | Sag Harbor/Tufts | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| Danny Kerr | Shelter Island/Portal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Brevin Bezick | Southampton/Rowan Gloucester | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Jesse Kostulias | Westhampton/New Haven | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Dean Ennis | Shelter Island/Utica | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Justin Lin | Westhampton/MIT | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Xavier Hall | Shelter Island/Emerson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Trey Stricker | Southampton/West Chester | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Devin Saltzgaber | North Fork/Pomona-Pitzer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dylan Beirne | Westhampton/Adelphi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
HCBL Pitchers of the Year from the Southampton Breakers
2010: Mike Mandarino (Broward)
2011: Chris Phelan (Farmingdale State)
2012: Paul Paez (Rio Hondo JC)
2014: Tim Ingram (SUNY Old Westbury)
2017: Evan Tubbs (St. Edwards)
2018: Carson Seymour (Dartmouth)
2023: John Kwiatkowski (Manhattan)
2025: Drew Sliwkowski (UMass)
2026: Luke Raho (West Chester)