James Love Named NECBL Player of the Week for Second Time in 2026

By Thaddeus Sawyer

While James Love has been one of the NECBL’s best hitters all summer, the third baseman brought his offensive success to new heights in Week 6.

Posting a league-high 13 hits and batting .500 across six games, Love earned his second NECBL Player of the Week award of the summer. Love previously won the award for opening week.

Posting four multi-hit performances and driving in four runs against the Vermont Mountaineers on Friday, Love tied for a league-high nine runs scored and four doubles last week.

The Eastern Illinois University infielder said the bond he has built with his teammates away from the Maxfield Sports Complex has helped him to improve on the field as the summer has progressed.

“This has been one of the best summers for me, just relationship wise, and I think that's honestly carried over in the games,” Love said. “... Just being around those guys every day, it's awesome because we just get to come out here and have fun. There are days where it's going to be really long for us and I think that's what's made us really close, but I think that's also what's made us really good down the stretch.”

The Joliet, Illinois native pointed to his approach at the plate and defense at both second and third as the areas of his game that he has seen improve the most so far this summer.

“For me, it's just building my approach just day by day,” Love said. “Obviously, the arms are a lot better here and having an approach versus the better guys is something that I've tried to bring into the summer. I think for me, that's helped so much, just building that approach off good guys.”

Love comes into Monday’s contest against the North Adams SteepleCats leading the league with 36 hits and slashing .400/.514/.544. The 20-year-old is top three in the league in batting average, RBIs and doubles.

“Being able to see the ball really well against top competition out here has been pretty cool,” Love said. “Taking that into the fall and hopefully into a big spring is going to be very impactful.”

Nick Quagliato also received recognition from the league, being named to the Week 6 Position Players Honor Roll. “Sarge” notched nine hits last week, driving in 13 runs. The 21-year-old is within the top 20 in the NECBL with 16 RBIs on the summer.

The backstop also caught in all four of Upper Valley’s victories last week, helping the Nighthawks pitching staff hold the Mountaineers to one run on Friday's 16-1 win while also driving in a pair of runs in the contest.

The Boston College commit pushed across four runs twice and carries a five-game RBI streak into Monday.

“One through nine is great in our lineup," Quagliato said. "Just doing my job, just putting a good swing on it and just giving it off to the next guy."

Nighthawks fans can follow Love on Instagram at @james.love27 and Quagliato at @nick_quagliato.