The Rockingham County Baseball League announced their 2026 season award winners on Thursday.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Anthony Arrichiello (Clover Hill)

Anthony Arrichiello entered the 2026 RCBL season, having just finished a successful four-year career as a two-way player for the Shenandoah Hornets. In his collegiate career, he appeared in 46 games as a pitcher and threw 75.2 innings, and as a hitter he had a .282 career batting average while appearing in 96 games over that four-year span. In his second season in the league, the 2025 RCBL Rookie of the Year entered the RCBL as one of the few players in the league who could have a significant impact on a game on offense, defense, and on the mound, and the left-hander put that on full display this season as he has been named the 2026 RCBL Most Valuable Player.

“Arch has had an incredible season for us,” said Clover Hill manager Kevin Chandler. “He does so much for this team, whether it’s making plays in center field, producing at the plate, or stepping up on the mound. Having him back this year has been a huge boost for our team.

The Hawthorne, New York native finished second in hits (33), second in home runs (8), second in doubles (9), and third in both slugging percentage (.892) and OPS (1.398) He also finished fourth in the league in batting average among players who had 60+ plate appearances (.446) and fourth in RBI (30) and helped the Bucks earn a 19-5 record and claim the RCBL regular season pennant for the 20th time in the team’s storied history.

“He’s the spark plug that keeps us going, bringing energy, intensity, and a competitive mindset every single day,” Chandler said. “He’s the kind of player every coach wants and every teammate loves having.”

In addition to his success at the plate, he also had a tremendous season on the mound. In his 21 innings of work, Arrichiello led the league in earned run average among players who threw over 20 innings (1.29) while also finishing first in batting average against (.141) and was second in WHIP (0.95) as well as tied for fourth in strikeouts (38).

“We’re grateful to have him,” Chandler continued, “and we’re excited to see him continue to lead the way.”

PITCHER OF THE YEAR – Avery Schaeffer (Massanutten Mountaineers)

Avery Schaeffer got his first taste of the RCBL last season as he made a handful of appearances for Massanutten after finishing his senior year at Buckingham County High School before heading to Shenandoah University to continue his playing career.

After appearing in 5 games and pitching 8.2 innings as a freshman for a Shenandoah team that made the NCAA tournament this spring, Schaeffer wanted a heavier workload and a chance to work on some things on the mound this summer. He got that opportunity and ended up putting together an outstanding season and has been named the 2026 RCBL Pitcher of the Year.

“It was evident early on that Avery was going to be our ace this season,” said Massanutten manager Nolan Potts. “He competes every single pitch, he wants to go deep into ballgames every time he’s out there, and he has the mentality that he’s not going to be beat.”

Schaeffer tied for the league lead in wins (5) and finished first in strikeouts (55), second in earned run average (1.64) and innings pitched (44.0) and third in both batting average against (.166) and WHIP (1.000).

“He came into this summer with a different mindset, and I believe a lot of that has to do with being at Shenandoah as a first-year player and continuing to develop both physically and mentally as a pitcher.” Potts said. “Last year he was just finishing high school, but you could tell from the first time he pitched this summer that he had a different sort of confidence about himself where he was much more comfortable and relaxed and had a better feel for all of his pitches and how he wanted to attack hitters.

The workhorse of the Mountaineers’ pitching staff, two of Schaeffer’s five victories came against pennant-winning Clover Hill where, in his two starts against the Bucks, he combined for 15 innings, 3 runs, and 17 strikeouts. The right-hander only allowed 27 hits total in his 44 innings of work during the regular season and only walked 17 batters.

“Every time he takes the mound, our players know that he’s going to keep us in the game.” Potts said. “There’s just a heightened level of confidence when he’s out there because they also know that with him on the mound, we don’t have to put up a ton of runs to give ourselves an opportunity to win.”

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – Jake Reichert (Massanutten Mountaineers)

Fresh off of his senior season at Clarke County High School where he earned First Team All-State honors, Jake Reichert came into his first season in the RCBL and put together a regular season that has earned him the 2026 RCBL Rookie of the Year award.

“We knew we had a lineup of guys that had played in the league in previous years, but Jake burst onto the scene and kept putting together good at-bats and produced to the point where he played himself into the lineup, and hasn’t come out since,” said Massanutten manager Nolan Potts.

Reichert, a Patrick & Henry Community College commit, hit .397 and tallied 31 hits which was tied for fourth in the league. He also accumulated 25 runs batted in which was ninth in the league, and scored 27 runs while helping Massanutten achieve a 17-7 record and earn the number two seed heading into the playoffs.

“He works extremely hard and is the type of young man that eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball,” Potts said. “All he wanted was an opportunity to get himself ready to play in college and he’s taken full advantage of that chance and has become a mainstay in our lineup.”

As the playoffs begin, Potts knows that Reichert is going to be a major factor if the Mountaineers are going to make a deep postseason run.

“He’s a big reason our offense was successful as it was during the regular season,” Potts said, “and if we’re going to accomplish our goal of winning a championship, then Jake is going to continue to play a huge role in helping us try to make that happen.”

COACH OF THE YEAR – Nolan Potts (Massanutten Mountaineers)

In his eighth season as a head coach in the RCBL, Massanutten’s Nolan Potts has won his second RCBL Manager of the Year award. He was also named Coach of the Year following his first season managing in the league as the head coach of the then-New Market Shockers in 2019.

The Mountaineers had a record of 8-3 heading into play on June 25, but they allowed 48 runs during their next three games and lost all three to drop to 8-6 on July 1. The Mountaineers then would not play again until July 14 due to numerous rainouts, and after winning three games in a row on July 14, 15, and 16, the team had to play 7 games in the final 6 days of the regular season. In that final week of the season, Massanutten would win the first six games of the week and propel themselves into second place in the standings before losing the regular season finale to Bridgewater.

The Mountaineers finished with a 17-7 record and finished two games behind top-seeded Clover Hill, but they did defeat the Bucks two out of the three times they played during the regular season. Massanutten hit .343 as a team during the regular season while averaging just over 10 runs per game. The team also had 98 extra base hits (61 doubles, 10 triples, 27 home runs) and a team earned run average of 3.96.

Heading into this year’s playoffs, Potts has a career record of 149-95 in his eight years at the helm of the New Market Shockers (2019-2022), the RCBL Shockers (2023), and now the Mountaineers (2024-present), and his teams have appeared in the RCBL Finals three times (2020, 2021, 2023) and have won two RCBL Championships (2021 & 2023).

— RCBL Staff —