WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Eastern Connecticut State University senior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield) has been named to the D3baseball.com Pre-Season All-America Team for 2026 as the only representative from the Little East Conference.
 
A returning two-time first-team All-Little East Conference and 2025 ABCA All-Region II second-teamer, Penders is one of only five players from New England and only selection from the Little East among the 45 pre-season All-Americas named by D3baseball.com.
 
A third-team selection, Penders was one of three catchers named to the team. He was joined by first-team pick Aaron Holland, a junior at the University of Whitewater, and second-teamer Nic Frink, a sophomore from Saint Joseph's (ME) College.
 
A second-year team captain, Penders is a 6-foot-3 inch, 200-pound left-handed hitter. Last year, he fielded at .995 on team-highs of 378 chances and 360 putouts on a team which finished 30-13 and 12-4 in the Little East, reaching the LEC tournament championship round.
 
 Penders batted second in the lineup in all but one start last year and was third among regulars with a .352 batting average and led the team with 17 doubles and 11 hit-by-pitch. He was second on the team with 21 multiple-hit games and had the third-longest on-base streak (16) of any player.  He was third on the team with 58 hits, moving to within six of 100 in his career.
 
In last year's final LEC stats, he ranked among the Top 10 in 12 individual categories, including first in doubles, fielding chances and putouts, third in sacrifice flies (5), tied for third in runs (46), fourth in hits, tied for fourth in total bases (92) and fifth in at-bats (165).
 
At Eastern, he ranks in a tie for fifth all-time at Eastern among those with at least 300 chances with a .991 fielding average.  He enters his final season with a career .339 batting average, 94 hits, 71 runs scored, ten home runs, 36 extra-base hits, 74 RBI, 153 total bases, and 655 putouts.
 
Penders was among Eastern's ten All-LEC picks in 2025 and is one of two first-teamers returning, along with junior utility player Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA).
 
Each All-America team consisted of 15 players: one catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop and designated hitter, three outfielders, a utility player, four starting pitchers and one relief pitcher.
 
Additional players chosen from New England were first-team starting pitcher Evan Scully from Endicott College, second-team utility player Zander Teator from Babson College, and third-team starting pitcher Kyle Carozza from Salve Regina University.