Orono, Maine -- The America East Conference announced their 2026 regular season awards winners on Tuesday afternoon. Hunter St. Denis headlines the Black Bears award winners as he earns one of the four major awards, being named the 2026 America East Rookie of the Year. St. Denis, Jason Krieger, Juju Stevens and Albert De La Rosa all earned a spot on an All-Conference Team while Troy Carpenter joined St. Denis on the All-Rookie Team.

St. Denis, a native of Laytonsville, MD, was named the first Black Bears since 2007 and the seventh Black Bear overall to be named the Rookie of the Year in the America East. He slashed .295/.372/.500 across 50 games on the season, slugging 10 home runs, nine doubles, driving in 38 runs and scoring 36 runs. His numbers only grew when playing in America East games as he slashed .348/.442/.607 with six home runs, 16 RBI and 22 runs scored in 24 conference games. His 1.049 OPS in conference games led the Black Bears and was the 3rd highest mark in the conference overall. Along with being named Rookie of the Year, he was named to the All-Conference First Team and to the All-Rookie Team at first base.

Krieger, a native of Red Lion, PA, was named to the All-Conference First Team as a starting pitcher in only his second year of competition after having miss all of the 2025 season due to Tommy John Surgery. The red-shirt junior paced all Black Bears on the season with 82.1 innings pitched, 48 strikeouts and a 1.43 WHIP. In conference-only games, his 3.42 ERA was the seventh-lowest mark in the America East while he threw the second-most innings at 50. Along with being named to the All-Conference First Team, he also was named to the All-Academic Team as he sports a 3.36 GPA as a Finance & Management Major.

Stevens, a native of Durham, N.C., made the most of his lone regular season in the America East as he earned a spot on the All-Conferene First Team as an outfielder. He led all Black Bears with a .307 batting average, 50 runs scored, a .994 OPS, was tied for the team lead and conference lead with 14 home runs, triples with two and was tied for second in RBI with 38. In conference-only games he drove in the 10th-most runs in the America East at 20.

De La Rosa, a native of Ayer, Mass., was named to the All-Conference Second Team at designated hitter as he was one of the best hitters in conference-only play. He slashed .366/.417/.463 across 11 conference games, driving in 12 runs on 15 hits. He put together five multi-hit games in conference play, along with driving in two or more runs in a single game five times as well.

Carpenter, a native of Kathleen, GA, put together one of the best power-hitting seasons by a freshmen in America East history. He slugged 14 home runs in 51 games, while driving in 48 runs. His 14 home runs tied Stevens for the America East lead while his 48 RBI were the third-most in the America East.

-UMaine-
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