The Pacific baseball team enters the 2026 season with a few question marks. But the Boxers return enough pieces to compete for the Northwest Conference championship. 
 
"I feel like the floor has been raised from where it was last year," said Pacific head coach Jacob Upwood, who in his first year led the Boxers to the 2025 NWC regular season championship.
 
"There's way more guys that are close to varsity usable than there was last year."
 
Pitching
 
On the mound, the Boxers return two of their top three starting pitchers in senior Governor Aufranc and sophomore Nicholas Saelens. 
 
As a freshman, Saelens was voted All-Northwest Conference honorable mention after leading the Boxers in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts.
 
Juniors Miles Durvasula, a transfer from the University of San Francisco, Isaiah Hirsh, and Trent Nagamine are competing for the No. 3 starter spot.
 
Pacific also has competition in the bullpen that will be anchored by senior Matt Palmateer
 
"There's a little bit of a hole in terms of the consistency in the bullpen," Upwood said. "It's going to be way more of me massaging the pitching staff than we had to last year." 
 
Hitting
 
Shortstop Javin Hamura and second baseman Nathaniel Chapman return in the middle infield after both starting last season as freshmen.
 
Hamura, a Second Team All-Northwest Conference selection, hit .294 with 25 runs, 19 RBIs, five extra-base hits and 13 stolen bases during the regular season. 
 
Chapman, voted All-NWC honorable mention, hit .300 with 14 runs and 10 RBIs. 
 
Junior Benjamin Lewis, an All-NWC honorable mention pick, who led the team with nine doubles and finished tied for second with three home runs and 21 RBIs, returns at first base.
 
Lewis and sophomore designated hitter Trevor Kazayaha, another all-conference honorable mention selection, are the only returning players to hit the ball out of the park last season.
 
"We did a better job in the fall of hitting some home runs," Upwood said. "I think it will be more of a mix. If we can hit more balls out of the ball park, that will be great. But I think the other thing that helps us is everybody has had a year to figure out this is what the expectation is from what we're going to do on the bases and what we're going to do at the plate. So I think that will make us probably even a little bit more dynamic that what we were last year."
 
The Boxers are deep at catcher with the return of juniors Rory Coughlan and Matthew Pavao along with the addition of senior Alex Laureano, a transfer from Biola University. 
 
The big question mark in the infield comes at third base, where four to five players are all battling for playing time.
 
Sophomore Hunter Nishina returns in the outfield along with seniors Riz Collado and Miles Bergman. Nishina hit .311 with four doubles last season. 
 
Strength of schedule
 
Pacific will again be tested early with non-conference series against Pomona-Pitzer, Milwaukee School of Engineering and East Texas Baptist, who were all NCAA regional teams last season.
 
Facing similar competition, the Boxers opened the 2025 season 0-9 before going on a roll to win their fourth NWC regular season championship in five years.
 
"I think some of the adversity kind of got some guys battle-tested and understood that how you start is not what matters, it's how you finish," Upwood said. 
 
Pacific opens the 2026 season on Friday, Feb, 6 at Pomona-Pitzer. The Sagehens are ranked No. 19 in the American Baseball Coaches Association preseason poll.