Three Arkansas baseball players walked away with national recognition Wednesday when the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its All-America teams for the 2026 season.
Shortstop Camden Kozeal and starting pitcher Hunter Dietz each pulled down third-team honors, while relief pitcher Ethan McElvain stepped up a rung to claim a second-team spot.
The three picks push the Hogs to 41 All-America selections in program history and mark the 40th, 41st and 42nd honorees of the Dave Van Horn era dating to 2003.
The class also adds to the growing totals for two key staff members.
McElvain and Dietz become the 11th and 12th pitchers to earn the honor under pitching coach Matt Hobbs, who’s been on staff since 2019.
Kozeal, meanwhile, is the 12th hitter to land All-America recognition under hitting coach Nate Thompson, who joined the program in 2018.
McElvain’s dominant bullpen run
McElvain was about as tough to beat as any reliever in the country this year.
The left-hander went 6-0 with a 1.03 ERA and six saves across 19 relief appearances covering 35.0 innings.
He struck out 52 batters while holding opposing hitters to a .163 average, allowing just 21 hits, 10 walks and four total runs.
Two outings stand out as his best of the regular season. He fanned seven across three scoreless frames in relief at Kentucky on May 15, then came back to throw a season-long 4.1 innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts against Auburn in the SEC Tournament on May 23.
His final appearance came in a start against Kansas on May 31 in the NCAA Lawrence Regional, where he allowed four runs in 3.1 innings.
That bumped his final numbers to a 6-0 record, a 1.88 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 38.1 innings.
The NCBWA had already named him one of 14 finalists for the Stopper of the Year Award, which goes to the nation’s top relief pitcher.
The league’s 16 head coaches also gave him All-SEC recognition.
Kozeal’s historic offensive season
Kozeal was the engine that drove the Razorback lineup all year long.
The shortstop posted a .318/.410/.653 slash line with 20 home runs and 71 RBI in 62 games, pacing the team in batting average, runs scored (59), base hits (78), doubles (18), triples (2), total bases (160) and slugging percentage.
His 20 home runs put him in select company in program history. He finished tied for fourth on Arkansas’s single-season home run list alongside Chad Spanberger, Andrew Benintendi and Rodney Nye, a list that includes some of the best hitters ever to wear a Razorback uniform.
Dietz’s breakout after injury battles
Dietz’s path to All-America status wasn’t a straight line. Injuries limited his impact as a true freshman in 2024 and again as a redshirt freshman in 2025.
But the left-hander from Trinity, Florida, broke through in a big way this season, finishing with a 7-4 record, 3.57 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 85.2 innings over 16 starts.
His 131 punchouts place him fourth on the program’s single-season strikeout list, and his 47 strikeouts looking led the SEC.
He also led the conference with nine quality starts and became the first SEC pitcher to crack the 100-strikeout mark on the season.
The league’s head coaches honored him with All-SEC recognition as well, and he’s a semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
