Castillo, Kelleher named Region 21 Player, Pitcher of the Year to headline All-Region Selections
The Northern Essex Community College baseball team had nine players selected to the All-Region 21 Teams as voted on by the leagues head coaches. The selections were highlighted by Region 21 Player of the Year David Castillo at shortstop and Pitcher of the Year Jack Kelleher among seven first team selections
Haverhill, MA (May 20, 2026) – The Northern Essex Community College baseball team had nine players selected to the All-Region 21 Teams as voted on by the leagues head coaches. The selections were highlighted by Region 21 Player of the Year David Castillo (Boston) at shortstop and Pitcher of the Year Jack Kelleher (Haverhill) among seven first team selections for the Knights. Head coach Jeff Mejia was named regional coach of the year for a fifth consecutive season. The Knights head to the NJCAA World Series this weekend with a 31-8 record on the season.
Joining Castillo and Kelleher on the first team were catch Jake Yngber (Miami, FL), first baseman Jack Aylward (Lowell), second baseman Josh Jones (Hampstead, NH) and outfielders Owen Derocher (Berkely) and Jaren Megan (Fairhaven). Earning second team honors was pitcher Dom Pefine (North Andover), while Jack Sarno (Byfield) earned honorable mention honors for his work on the mound.
Castillo, who joined the Knights prior to the spring semester after transferring from Western Texas College will head to the World Series this weekend with a batting average of .430, along with a .530 on base percentage and a region best .729 slugging percentage. He's also recorded 46 hits, 34 RBI's and 27 stolen bases.
Kelleher, who sits atop the national leader board in both strikeouts with 112 and ERA at 1.09 in 74 innings pitched has nine wins on the season while only walking 18 batters and averaging 13.62 strikeouts per nine innings of work. The righthander is committed to attend James Madison University in the fall.
Yngber, who will attend Eckerd University in the fall is heading to Johnson City with a .404 batting average, .532 on base percentage and .625 slugging percentage. From behind the dish he has thrown out eight runners attempting to steal on the season with a .995 fielding percentage.
Aylward is the region leader in RBI's with 42, while hitting .324 to go along wit .452 on base percentage and .569 slugging percentage.
Megan and Derocher sit atop the region in stolen bases as Megan led the region with 43 stolen bags and his teammates follows with 31. Derocher has a .394 batting average while his outfield partner checks in at .370. Megan has 35 RBIs while Derocher checks in with 32.
Jones has been a spark plug at the bottom of the lineup for the Knights with a .500 on base percentage to go along with a .277 batting average.
One the mound, both Pefine and Sarno have identical 6-2 records in 53 and 48.1 respective innings pitched. Pefine has also added two saves to go along with his 2.55 ERA while Sarno checks in at 3.35. The left handed Pefine has struck out 60 while Sarno has 48 on the season.
The Knights will open up World Series play on Saturday when they face Niagara County at 9:30am at TVA Credit Union Ballpark