FIVE PIONEERS NAMED TO WEST DIVISION ALL-STAR TEAM

By Anthony La Bonté

ELMIRA, NY—Brett Baker, Landen Burch, Larsen Burch, Brenden Hayes, and Luke

Richards were named, Friday morning, to the 2026 PGCBL West Division All-Star

Team.

Larsen, Richards, Baker and Hayes have all been selected to player of the week

awards before; meanwhile this is the first nod given to Landen since the beginning of

the year.

Brett Baker has played in 23 games this season, batting .403 on the year with eight

extra base hits, including a home run against the Batavia Muckdogs on July 3. 25 Runs

Batted In (RBIs) on the year, with an On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS) of 1.114. For

comparison, in Aaron Judge’s 2025 MVP season, he had an OPS of 1.144. Baker was

named to the week five West Division Player of the Week.

Landen Burch has started six games this season and leads the PGCBL in strikeouts on

the season. Just one of two pitchers to have 40+ strikeouts, Landen sits at 48, following

his 11 K complete game shutout versus Newark, July 9, in a 23-0 victory. A 2.55 Earned

Run Average (ERA) sits him at 3 rd amongst the West Division.

The other pitcher to have 40+ strikeouts, Brenden Hayes, who sits at 2 nd in the West

Division for ERA (2.32) as well. Hayes has started in five games, earning a 4-1 record.

A 1.39 Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP). Hayes’ last outing was on July 4 th

with a complete game shutout of the Newark Pilots in game two of the double header.

Hayes was named to the week five West Division Pitcher of the Week.

Larsen Burch has started two games this season, in both he was able to throw a

complete game against the Niagara Ironbacks, and Olean Oilers. With a 1.62 ERA, he

has thrown 16.2 Innings Pitched and allows a .136 batting average. Larsen does not

qualify for season rankings—due to not having an inning pitched per game played—but

is the definition of an all-star for another year with the program. Larsen was named to

the week one West Division Pitcher of the Week.

The fourth pitcher selected for the Pioneers, Luke Richards, has started in just one

game this season (coming in relief for two other games) and had a complete game, two

hit, shutout against the Niagara Falls Americans. Richards has not had a single earned

run pass by him, while striking out thirteen men. The batting average against is .098,

and he was named to the week four West Division Pitcher of the Week.

The five selections were tied for third most selections for a team in the West

Division—the Batavia led with nine selections, while the Ironbacks had six selections

and the Jamestown Tarp Skunks tied with five.

Their next game is on the road against the Oilers Friday, July 10. The next home game

is a double header versus the Niagara Falls Americans on Sunday. It is “Free Hilliard

Baseball” day at Historic Dunn Field. For ticket information call (607) 734-2690.