February 9, 2026
MADISON, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) swept the inaugural Frontier Conference baseball weekly awards, announced Monday by the conference office.
Ryland Carroll was selected as Pitcher-of-the-Week, while
Cameron DeMaria was chosen as Player-of-the-Week.
Dakota State finished with a 2-2 record in the challenging Cajun Collision season opening weekend. The Trojans noticed wins over 2025 NAIA national tournament's national qualifier Louisiana Christian and Park (Mo.).
As a true freshman, Carroll tossed a 7-inning complete game victory for the Trojans over Park 2-1 on Feb. 9 in the third game of the Cajun Collision preseason tournament in Louisiana. He limited the Pirates to one unearned run on three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts (12.86 K/per nine inning) in his first career collegiate start for DSU.
Carroll, a native of Brandon, S.D., did not record a hit-by-pitch in the game on the pitching mound.
DeMaria kicked off the 2026 season with three consecutive multi-hits games, starting the season by going 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in three runs in 5-4 win over Louisiana Christan on Feb. 8. He followed up with a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs, despite falling to LSU-Alexandria in a high scoring affair on the same day.
DeMaria went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, including the game-winning RBI single in the top seventh inning to hold off Park on the second day of the tournament on Feb. 9. The Trojans closed the tournament with a setback to NAIA's No. 1 and national defending champion LSU-Shreveport.
DeMaria, a native of Fresno, Calif., finished the week by going 8-of-13 at the plate for .615 batting average. He produced a slugging percentage of .769 with two doubles and six singles. He drove in seven runs in the tournament and scored twice.
Dakota State (2-2 overall record) continues their action in the preseason tournament, traveling to Fayette, Mo., this weekend. The Trojans face a pair of NAIA's Top 25 teams, No. 23 Columbia (Mo.) and host-team No. 25 Central Methodist (Mo.) on Friday.
DSU plays a doubleheader with Madonna (Mich.) on Saturday. Dakota State plays a pair of games each day, starting at 12 p.m. followed by the second game at 3 p.m.
