By: Matt Florjancic ‘07
BEREA, Ohio – When Brit Kostura started doing research on colleges, he did not focus on schools with good baseball programs. Instead, Kostura wanted a school that offered the major he wanted to pursue: sustainability.
Growing up in Jupiter, Florida, Kostura recognized a potential career opportunity before he graduated high school and wanted to be prepared to capitalize on any chance that came his way when he was ready to move back to Florida. Enter Baldwin Wallace University, and the rest is history.
“I was looking for a smaller school,” Kostura said. “When I was looking around, this team had the best program in NCAA Division III. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s got to be the place for me.’”
Renewable Energy
While sustainability was his initial plan for a major, Kostura added one in finance, too.
Kostura added that finance course of study to help with his post-graduation career. Following his time at Baldwin Wallace, which concludes in the classroom this month, he has designs on returning to Florida and starting a renewable energy business.
“In Jupiter, Florida, obviously there’s a lot of boats, so the idea is to have some sort of boat that could run on renewable energy,” Kostura said.
“That is what started my passion with sustainability as a field. It was more of a recent development like when solar panels were becoming a popular thing in Florida. There were a lot of subsidies for all that, so I was like, ‘Wow, that could be a cool thing for me to pursue.’”
Student-Athlete Experience
Kostura has embodied everything it means to be a student-athlete at Baldwin Wallace, as he has been a productive pitcher, as well as a standout in the classroom.
Following the 2025 season, Kostura earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-American and CSC Academic All-District honors. During the 2024 season, Kostura was an Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference honoree, as well as the winner of the BW Academic Excellence Award.
Kostura earned the BW Academic Excellence Award by having the highest grade point average on the baseball team and in the entire sophomore class.
“Absolutely, it’s super important,” Kostura said of being successful, academically and athletically.
“My dad always focused or suggested that I focus on doing well in the classroom. That’s an important part of what I do. I’ve been trying my best to be successful in and out of the classroom, which I think I’ve succeeded in doing.
“It takes a lot of time, but it’s about just getting used to managing the time well. When I wake up in the morning, I try to get done as much schoolwork as I can do. Then, when the afternoon comes, it’s all baseball the rest of the day, just doing everything I can to succeed on the mound, help our team win.”
Successful Season
Along with his academic achievements, Kostura made an impact on the field during the 2025 season.
After making seven appearances as a sophomore in 2024, Kostura made nine starts and played in 12 games during the 2025 season, where the Yellow Jackets swept through the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament, and then, went to the Championship round of the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament in Salisbury, Maryland.
Over 67.1 innings, Kostura posted a 5-1 record, 3.07 earned run average, and tossed two complete games, all of which were second on the team. He registered a career-best 63 strikeouts and led the conference and was 16th in NCAA Division III with a 0.95 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched).
“It means everything,” Kostura said of having success in 2025. “I’ve been training since I was like five years old, so to see that all the hard work that I’ve put in paying off, it’s super cool.
“It’s really awesome just to be able to experience it with the guys we have here. They make it a real family, so it’s not just a personal accomplishment. It’s kind of like a team accomplishment, a family goal.”
Not So Simple
Kostura maximized his opportunities during the 2025 season, but he was in position to succeed because of the preparations made throughout his baseball career.
In many ways, Kostura lived the popular sports catchphrase: “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” However, Kostura realized that for him to succeed, the team had to give him support, offensively and defensively.
“A ton of work went in, early mornings, late nights,” Kostura said. “A lot of it did come with the team though. They made it so much easier. Our defense was incredible, hitting was incredible. When you just get to come out here and you have the guys behind you that did as well as they did, it makes it so much easier to just go out and do your best and be successful.”
No Hitter
Kostura and the Yellow Jackets had much success in 2025, but one moment stands out from the regular season.
In what turned out to be the final home game of the season, Kostura threw his first career no-hitter against John Carroll University. Kostura struck out seven and allowed only three walks over the nine innings to register the program’s fifth-ever no hitter.
“That was just the culmination of everything going the right way for us, hitting, defense, pitching,” Kostura said. “I got super lucky that all my pitches were working that day. Everything came together for us to have an incredible outcome for that game. It was just an awesome time.”
Postgame Conversation
Following the final out, the Yellow Jackets broke out in celebration of the achievement over their now former conference archrivals, as teammates made up for the fact that with the no-hitter on the line, they avoided talking to him as the innings dwindled.
However, there was one fan in particular that Kostura was interested in talking to, his father, Jeff.
It was the first time the elder Kostura had come up from Florida to see his son pitch.
“Oh, it was so cool,” Kostura said. “It was so awesome just to get to talk because every inning, I would go out, and I’d look at him. I’m like, ‘This might happen.’ It was just so cool to get to experience that with him and just all the guys here.
“It was incredible. I don’t know if there is something that can top that. Just the people I got to celebrate with, it made it so awesome.”
Future Plans
In order to equal the kind of success he had in 2025, Kostura focused his offseason plans on “prioritizing and staying healthy” by going through lifting and throwing programs, eating properly and getting enough sleep.
Following the 2026 season, Kostura will look into playing independent league baseball closer to home while formulating his business plans for a sustainability company. He will take those next steps in his career having not forgotten his time with Coach Brian Harrison and the Yellow Jackets.
“It was so cool to have Coach Brian give me an opportunity to come here,” Kostura said. “I was really blessed.”