How Bethune-Cookman baseball returned most of its SWAC-winning roster
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DAYTONA BEACH — The part that’s new about Bethune-Cookman’s baseball team is that its roster … isn’t.
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The paradox the Wildcats have the fortune of representing is becoming increasingly rare in the collegiate landscape, as mid-major programs across all sports have dealt with power-school poaching.
But Bethune-Cookman, fresh off a Southwestern Athletic Conference title and an appearance in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, was able to avoid losing the majority of its production. In fact, it returned a large portion of it.
The Wildcats returned seven of their nine players from their tournament-team starting lineup, and manager Jonathan Hernandez estimated approximately 80% of his roster was on the team a year ago.
“It’s the first time in a long time where we have continuity on the roster,” Hernandez said. “We brought back a lot of last year’s team, and the pieces that we brought in, they’ve dealt well with the guys that we have.”
Believe it or not, the ability to keep the players that led Bethune-Cookman to a 37-23 record and a conference title has benefited the Wildcats early into their 2026 campaign.
Bethune-Cookman went 11-6 in its nonconference schedule with wins over Yale, South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast among others. The Wildcats also played Miami (Florida) to a 5-2 loss.
B-CU finished 7-10 in the same timeframe a year ago.
“It’s definitely not normal,” outfielder Sergio Rivera said. “It’s just how we love each other, we love the program. We all know what we want to achieve as a team, and we want to do it again and do it at a bigger stage.”
The Wildcats’ run to the postseason ended an eight-year drought after they dominated the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in the early 2000s and 2010s, winning 12 of the 13 possible conference titles from 1999-2011.
After winning its first SWAC title since joining the conference in 2021, Bethune-Cookman lost 6-2 to Florida State and 4-3 to Northeastern, both ranked teams, and was eliminated.
The Wildcats weren’t happy with simply appearing in the tournament, and they want redemption.
“Obviously, the main goal is to get back to a regional,” Hernandez said. “I think that left a sour taste in some of the guys’ mouths, especially with how well we played in the regional against Florida State and Northeastern. But before we get there, we have to take care of business in our conference slate.”
Bethune-Cookman took Hernandez’s advice in its first official SWAC game and beat Prairie View A&M 6-1 on March 13 with seven shutout innings from pitcher Harbersting Abreu.
Abreu wasn’t a Wildcat last season. He transferred in from Tallahassee Community College, but he’s one of the new pieces that has fit well with the rest of the roster.
“That’s a guy that pitched two years of junior college in Florida and Tallahassee, and junior college baseball is really good here in the state of Florida,” Hernandez said. “We knew what we were getting in [Abreu] when we recruited him.”
The transition from Tallahassee to Daytona Beach was smooth for the Oranjestad, Aruba, native, which was a common experience for the transfers Bethune-Cookman did bring in.
“It wasn’t difficult at all, because the guys that were here last year, they received us with open arms. From the first day, they welcomed us really good,” Abreu said.
The Wildcats will wrap up their first weekend SWAC series with a doubleheader against the Panthers on March 14 as they begin their quest to defend their conference title and return to the NCAA Tournament.
While it may be a similar roster, Bethune-Cookman is looking for better results.
“That’s the standard of this program, making it to the regionals every year,” Rivera said. “So we were there, we just misplaced a couple balls, we should have had better games, but that’s the standard of the program.”
“Hopefully, we’ll make a Super Regional and after that, just keep going.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bethune-Cookman baseball roster ready to return to NCAA Tournament