For a standout season and career, Oneonta senior pitcher Nolan Stark has been selected as The Daily Star’s 2026 Player of the Year for baseball.
In addition, Oneonta’s Joe Hughes and Schenevus/Charlotte Valley’s Jim Gaske have been selected as The Daily Star’s 2026 Coaches of the Year.
The Yellowjackets and Dragons each won Section IV titles this year, Oneonta (19-6) in Class B and S/CV (16-4) in Class D, with each team winning a sub-regional game but losing in the regional round of the state tournament.
The Daily Star met with Hughes and Stark on Tuesday, June, 17, at Oneonta’s Joe Hughes Field to speak about their awards, and exchanged emails with Gaske to get his reaction.
“It means a lot,” Stark said. “We had a great group of guys the past couple of years. We played together since we were little, so it meant a lot to win three (section titles) in a row with them.”
Hughes had the highest praise for Stark, who played shortstop for the Yellowjackets when he wasn’t pitching and also led the team in hitting, comparing him to a Japanese phenom.
“He’s our Shohei Ohtani,” Hughes said. “He’s one of the best to ever play here. The records he set as a pitcher and as a hitter are unmatched. His talent is one of the best that ever walked on this diamond. Beyond that he is just a super kid and a super person. He is a leader. He is helpful to his teammates. He cares about his teammates. I am as proud of that as all his accomplishments and records that he has.”
“Thanks, Coach,” Stark said. In turn, Stark called Hughes a mentor.
“Coach Hughes has been a great coach,” Stark said. “I had him for five years. He taught me more about baseball than anybody else has ever taught me about the game. He’s been at it a long time. He’s the best coach I have ever had.”
Stark, who is playing this summer for the Oneonta Outlaws, will attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and play for their Division I baseball program. The Seahawks will use Stark as a fielder, keeping his bat and glove, but probably forgoing his pitching, he said. Stark is listed in the school’s recruiting media release as an infielder.
“They want me primarily in the field, but if I pitch, I pitch,” Stark said. “They told me outfield, infield. I’m just going to try to get as many good at bats and play the field as much as I can.”
Stark leaves Oneonta as one of the top pitchers and batters in program history. He was 9-1 this season with his only loss coming in a pitcher’s duel in the 1-0 regional championship to Medina. Stark threw a two-hitter and lost to a one-hit effort by Mustang pitcher Preston Woodworth, a St. Bonaventure commit.
In 65 varsity innings pitched this year, Stark had 92 strikeouts and 12 walks.
For his varsity career, he was 29-8, with three saves and a 1.10 ERA. He had 282 strikeouts and 71 walks in 236 innings.
Among his program records, Stark has the most wins for the Yellowjackets in a season, 10 in 2025, and is tied for second with nine this season. His 92 strikeouts this season was eighth all time in program history and his .75 ERA was sixth all time.
A leadoff hitter who bats left-handed, but throws right-handed, Stark had the most and second most home runs in a season in program history, with seven this year (tied with Chris Pindar) and six last year. He is one of three leaders for triples in a season with seven last year, as well as six this season. His 41 runs last season is an OHS best and his 37 this season is tied for second best. Stark is also on the all-time list for best batting average (.514 in 2024), and hits in a season (32 in 2024).
Stark said he will miss his teammates in Oneonta, where their love of baseball was sparked early by the 2012 state championship team.
“It was cool to be able to watch them play and develop over the years and see where their journeys have taken them,” he said. “Hopefully I can be on the same journey as them and make it as far.
“I am going to remember the great coaching staff we had and all the great memories we had on this field,” said Stark, who will leave for Wilmington in early August.
Stark and Hughes are repeat winners of these awards. Stark was co-Player of the Year with Unatego’s Braeden Johnson in 2024. This is Hughes’ 10th Daily Star Coach of the Year Award, with the first coming in 1990. He also won the award in 2024.
The awards were not given in 2025, or Stark and Hughes would likely be three-peat winners this season.
Hughes, who started coaching at Oneonta in 1983 and has been the Yellowjacket skipper for most of the years since, minus COVID and a couple of years when his kids were young, said the award is a testament to the baseball community in Oneonta, his assistants, and especially the group of players he has had for the past four years.
Hughes has won 610 varsity games at Oneonta, eight section titles, three regional titles and the state title in 2012. This year’s group has won three straight section titles – and a fourth in 2012 for the ones like Stark who played as eighth graders – a regional title in 2025, and 77 wins in four years.
“This group of seniors were unmatched in their records over four years, the championships they won, the section championships they won,” Hughes said. “No group of seniors has accumulated … they won 77 games in four years, and three straight sectional championships, four East Division championships, a STAC championship, a regional championship, a heart breaker in the semifinal (in 2025). Not just one year. That was a cumulative four years.
“The 2012 team that won the state championship, they were a great, great team,” Hughes continued. “They accomplished the state championship, but their four-year run was nowhere near this group’s four-year run. So, it was kind of rewarding and fun to see that this late in my career we could produce teams that had this much success. It was wonderful for them to experience what other teams had and beyond.”
Hughes had three players on this year’s squad – Jameson Brown and the Jervis brothers, Chase and Trey – whose fathers also played for him at OHS.
“I probably won’t be here for Nolan’s kids to play for me,” Hughes said, laughing. “Maybe, I will.”
For Gaske, a Schenevus native, who took his combined schools to the first section title in sport in Charlotte Valley history and the first for the Dragons since 2003, the season was redemption for a championship loss to Notre Dame in 2025.
“I am truly grateful to receive The Daily Star Coach of the Year award,” Gaske said. “To win it with Coach Hughes is an honor in itself. Congratulations to Coach Hughes on another great season in an outstanding career.
“We had a fantastic season, going 16-4,” he continued. “I couldn’t do it without coaches Michael Ballard, Robbie Burton and Ron Spranger. Those guys work their tails off. Each one bringing something different to field so we can compliment each other. I started this season like every other pointing to the league and sectional banners hanging in the gym. It felt different this year though because we gave the sectional banner away last season. I know we all say, ‘move on, play the game in front of you,’ but there was no doubt after watching my guys celebrate this year’s Section IV Class D Championship, they were tortured for 364 days like me and the other coaches.”
A 1991 Schenevus graduate who took over the varsity program in 2022, Gaske said it was also special to win with this group of seniors.
“Pretty much my whole modified team moved up to join the four returning players,” he said. “Ethan (Reed), Allen (Osborne) and Tim (Green) tested up in eighth grade. Tim, being the first player I notified that I got the job, I said, ‘Are you ready? We’re going to varsity.’ That year we lost in the Tri-Valley championship but won a sectional game. Not bad with three eighth graders, six freshman, one sophomore, one junior and two seniors. We have been building ever since.”
Hughes praised Gaske and said he loves to see other Section IV coaches succeed.
“He has done a great job with that team,” Hughes said. “We spent some time on the bus checking their scores and rooting for them to win, too. It was wonderful to see them win something for the first time (in a long time). It is great to see how successful baseball has been in Section IV.”
Hughes said the local success in the sport comes from strong community support.
“I think it comes from a strong Little League program, and an appreciation for the game of baseball,” he said. “I think it comes from parents that support their kids and support us. You hear horror stories about parents, nagging coaches or getting after coaches, but that doesn’t happen with the baseball program here. They just let us do our thing. They trust us and they believe in us. I think that’s important, that you have the confidence of the community.”