Baseball

MVC Baseball Weekly Notebook (March 17)

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference announced its baseball weekly honors on Tuesday. Illinois State's Luke Stulga and Reece Clapp have been named the MVC Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. UIC's Jake Busson has been tabbed the MVC Newcomer of the Week and Belmont's Brady Holbrook is this week's Freshman of the Week. 

Conference News & Notes
  • The Missouri Valley Conference slate opens this weekend for eight of the league’s nine baseball programs. Evansville is the lone team on a bye, and will be traveling to California to face Cal Baptist for a three-game series.
  • Illinois State went undefeated last week, winning five-straight games and improving to a league-best 13-7 on the year. Murray State joins the Redbirds as the only two teams in the MVC with a record above .500. 
  • The Redbirds are 18th nationally with a league-leading 219 hits through their first 20 games of the 2026 campaign. They also lead the MVC as a team in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.485) and on-base percentage (.400). 
  • Five players in The Valley have 30-plus hits heading into Conference play, led by Illinois State’s Luke Stugla, who has 34 on the year to rank 11th in Division I. Teammate Graham Mastros and Murray State’s Luke Mistone also rank inside the top 25 nationally in the category. 
  • Valparaiso’s Connor Lockwood has a 22.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is the fifth-best mark in the country, while he is averaging the third-fewest walks per nine innings (0.28). 
  • Southern Illinois picked up its second series win of the season at home, taking two of three games from Southern Indiana. The Salukis used a strong performance at the plate by Gabe Petrucelli, who turned in a pair of multi-hit games last week.  
  • Evansville took two of three games at Xavier last weekend to secure its second series win of the year, as well as the first on the road. Kevin Reed earned his third victory of the season after throwing 8.0 innings, while allowing just one run and striking out three.
  • Belmont head coach Dave Jarvis is three wins away from reaching 800 in his 29-year career at the helm of the Bruins.
  • In the latest RPI report, Illinois State jumped up 15 spots to No. 95, while Valparaiso and Evansville join the Redbirds inside the Top 150. Additionally, the Purple Aces and the Beacons have the strongest schedules in the league, sitting within the Top 100. 
  • Seven players are hitting at least .350 from the plate this season, led by Illinois State’s Graham Mastros. Mastros has the second-most RBI (20) and is tied for the most home runs with six.
  • A pair of Redbirds lead The Valley with a 1.29 ERA, while Evansville’s Max Hansmann has a Valley-best 30 strikeouts. 
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Luke Stulga, Illinois State
Junior | Outfielder | Tinley Park, Ill. (St. Laurence HS)
Junior Luke Stulga shined for the Redbirds, tallying a combined 13-for-25 (.520) performance with eight RBI across all five contests for Illinois State. Stulga tallied multi-hits in four of five games, including a single-game career-best four hits in Illinois State’s 7-6 15-inning victory over Western Illinois in the series finale. Additionally, he drove in at least runner in each contest, including a season-best two RBI in three of the Redbirds’ four games with the Leathernecks.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Reece Clapp, Illinois State
Graduate | RHP | Columbia, Mo. (Bradley)
Graduate Reece Clapp played a pivotal role for the Redbirds out of the bullpen, combining for 11.0 innings pitched and 14 strikeouts in three appearances across the week. On Saturday, Clapp tallied a career-best 7.0 innings pitched while notching eight strikeouts to limit Western Illinois to just one hit in the Redbirds’ 7-6 win in the finale.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Jake Busson, UIC
Junior | Utility | Hudson, Wis. (Iowa Central CC)
In a busy week filled with baseball for the Flames, junior Jake Busson had a strong showing offensively, going 7-for-13 (.538) at the plate. He collected six RBI, with one home run, six base hits and a sacrifice fly. His six home runs this season puts him second in the MVC in the category and has the second-best batting average on the team at .294.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Brady Holbrook, Belmont
Freshman | Outfielder | Cumming, Ga. (North Forsyth HS)
Outfielder Brady Holbrook turned in a standout week at the plate for the Belmont baseball. Across four games, Holbrook batted .500, recording seven hits in 14 at-bats while scoring four runs and driving in four RBI. The freshman also added his first collegiate home run during the stretch and posted a .714 slugging percentage alongside a .533 on-base percentage, providing consistent production in the middle of Belmont’s lineup.