By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) was not completely satisfied with his 2025 season with the Bridgewater State University baseball team.
The designated hitter appeared in a career-high 45 games and batted .282 with 44 hits, including 11 doubles, a triple and a homer.
Selander helped the Bears win a fourth straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship a year ago, but he wanted to do even more as a senior in 2026.
"That season lit some fire under me," said Selander. "I was kind of annoyed because I knew I could have done better.
"I did work a lot harder (in the offseason). I was in the cage more, the gym more. I definitely wanted to have a better year this year.''
Mission accomplished for the marketing major.
Selander, who played first base this season, was named to the All-MASCAC first team and was part of a MASCAC championship team for the fourth straight year.
He will take part in a fourth consecutive NCAA Division III tournament this week. BSU opens the national tourney Friday in Maryland at 10 a.m. at nationally ranked Salisbury University.
Selander is batting a career-best .364 to go with a .465 on-base percentage and 47 hits in 37 games.
He ranks third in hits and RBI (32) for a team that sits at 30-8.
Selander had his sights set on putting together a strong final season, and he has done that.
"I was ready," said Selander. "I wanted to win again and I wanted to do well.
"It was very satisfying. I wanted all-conference since I was a freshman. To get it this year was great, my last year, just knowing all the hard work paid off."
The average went up 82 points from a year ago and the strikeouts have been reduced from 28 to 13.
"He's just a very good hitter," said coach Greg Zackrison. "He's that classic sweet-swinging lefty that just sees right-handed pitching very well.
"He kind of didn't hit for the average he wanted last year, but then things really came along."
Selander was a DH as a freshman, hitting .333 in 28 games with seven extra-base hits.
He moved to first base as a sophomore in 2024 and played 29 games, batting .319 with five doubles and four homers.
Selander missed the early part of that season with a back ailment suffered during winter workouts, but he quickly got into a groove upon returning.
"That was probably one of the best stretches in baseball I've ever had," said Selander of the '24 season. "I hit three homers in a doubleheader against (the Mass. College of Liberal Arts) and I stayed hot the rest of the year."
In 139 career games, Selander is hitting .322 with 137 hits, including 28 doubles, and 103 RBI.
"He's been very consistent," said Zackrison. "He's had some really big clutch at-bats since his freshman year.
"We knew he was going to be in the lineup (early), especially against right-handers. I saw him when he was a senior in high school hit two doubles off the fence against a guy with a pretty good arm. I knew he could hit."
Said Selander, "I like to be a contact-first hitter. I can hit for power, but that's not my game. I like to put the ball in play and hit for average."
Selander was looking at Mitchell College and the University of Connecticut Avery Point, but the BSU program, the facilities and the size of the campus swayed him to Massachusetts where a brother lives nearby in West Bridgewater.
Selander visited BSU during his senior year of high and committed to the Bears, and he has been winning championships since the 2023 season.
When this season started, Selander was the DH again, but an injury in Myrtle Beach, S.C., during the March trip sidelined third baseman Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.) for the year.
BSU moved senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) from first to third and put Selander back at first with junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) taking over the DH role.
"To me, I perform better when I play first base because I'm more locked in to the game," said Selander. "When you're a DH, you're away from the game a little."
In Selander's final game at Alumni Park Saturday afternoon, the Bears won a fifth straight MASCAC tournament by rallying for seven runs in the ninth for a shocking 12-11 win over Worcester State University.
That one ranks as the top highlight of a career full of highs for Selander since '23.
"That was the best game I've ever been a part of," said Selander of the latest title. "The first thing I told my dad when I saw him was that we had the clean sweep, which is what I wanted since last year."
Now it's on to Maryland with a bus trip Wednesday morning followed by the opener of a four-team double-elimination regional as Selander's career winds down.
"We have the experience being there for three years," said Selander. "It's also going to be fun. We're playing on a nice field, playing good teams. It'll be nice to see what we can do against top teams."