Senior left-hander Braden Gebhardt of the Youngstown State baseball team has been named the Under Armour Horizon League Pitcher of the Week for a record sixth time during the 2026 season, the league office announced on Monday.
Gebhardt, who earned the first weekly Horizon League honor of his career following opening weekend, allowed one earned run on five hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings to earn his fifth win of the season in YSU's 5-2 series-opening victory at Wright State on Thursday. The Howland, Ohio, native recorded at least one strikeout in six of the seven innings he was on the mound while walking just one batter.
With his fifth weekly HL honor of the 2026 season on May 11, Gebhardt became the first pitcher in Horizon League history to win the league's Pitcher of the Week award five times in a single season. He is just the second pitcher to win the award on four or more occasions in season, and he became the sixth pitcher to win the award at least five times in a career. With this sixth weekly award of the campaign, Gebhardt becomes just the third pitcher in Horizon League history to win the award at least six times in a career.
Gebhardt, who was named as one of 43 semifinalists for the College Baseball Foundation 2026 National Pitcher of the Year Award on April 22, was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week three times in as many weeks to begin the 2026 season. He is the only pitcher in the league to claim the weekly honor at least three times this season.
Through games completed on May 17, Gebhardt leads the Horizon League while ranking 31st nationally with 99 strikeouts and 11th in the country with 14 games started. He also paces the league in ERA (2.82), innings pitched (83.0), WHIP (1.16) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.73). Gebhardt's 99 strikeouts currently rank as the fifth most in a single season in program history. With one more punchout, he would become the first Penguin since Matt Brosky in 2022 to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season. The senior southpaw became just the ninth pitcher in YSU history to reach 200 career strikeouts in the series opener with Wright State on April 10. Gebhardt currently ranks sixth in program history with 235 career strikeouts, and he ranks 11th in school history with 242.0 career innings pitched.
Gebhardt is scheduled to match the single-season YSU record with his 15th start on the mound in Wednesday's opening round elimination game against Oakland in the 2026 Horizon League Baseball Championship. First pitch at Wright State's Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton is set for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
For the latest news and updates throughout the 2026 Horizon League Baseball Championship, follow @YSUBaseball on X and Instagram.
