ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced its baseball weekly honors on Monday. For the second time this season, Illinois State's Brayden Bakes has been tabbed the MVC Player of the Week, marking the fifth time in six weeks a Redbird hitter has been recognized. Teammate Michael Addari has been named the MVC Pitcher of the Week, while Indiana State's Caden Miller and Colin Sander have earned MVC Newcomer and Freshman of the Week honors, respectively. 

Conference News & Notes

• After Conference-opening weekend, Illinois State and Murray State each used a pair of sweeps to remain atop the league standings.
• Winners of their last nine games, the Redbirds’ three-game sweep of Belmont marked the first time in the Steve Holm era that Illinois State has opened MVC play with a sweep. Brayden Bakes earned his second MVC Player of the Week honors after a massive week at the plate, going 12-of-18 with 13 RBI, five homers and eight runs scored.
• Murray State outlasted Valparaiso in Sunday’s series finale, 13-12, to secure the sweep over the Beacons and tally its 10th-consecutive win over Valpo. The Racers rank first in The Valley in team ERA (4.86) and second in batting average (.292).
• UIC earned a series win over Southern Illinois with a pair of walk-off wins on Saturday. After SIU regained its lead in the first game of the twin bill, a solo shot by Ashton Kampa knotted the game before Jake Busson walked it off with an RBI single. Busson was the hero in the finale, as a homer launched to centerfield powered the Flames to the series win.
• Indiana State bounced back from a 10-8 loss on Friday night to claim 8-3 and 18-10 victories over Bradley to take the series against the Braves. For the series overall, Indiana State featured five players with at least five hits and seven players scoring at least four runs. Ty Brooks turned in his sixth outing of 5.0+ innings on Saturday afternoon as the sophomore right-hander posted a 1.29 ERA over 7.0 innings, allowing four hits and a run while striking out five.
• As a team, Illinois State leads The Valley and ranks 15th nationally with 264 hits on the year while batting a league-leading .312 as a team. Brayden Bakes (42) and Luke Stulga (40) rank in the top 10 in Division I in hits.
• Valparaiso’s Connor Lockwood is one of just six players in the country with two complete games on the mound after going the distance on Saturday against Murray State.
• Indiana State’s Hunter Small has made a league-leading 13 appearances on the mound this season, tied for the sixth-most appearances in Division I this season.
• With two appearances against the Beacons, Murray State’s Dylan Zentko added two more saves, bringing his season total to six, which is tied for the fourth-most nationally. He has a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings of work with 15 strikeouts.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brayden Bakes, Illinois State
Redshirt Sophomore | Outfielder | Algonquin, Ill. (Huntley HS)
Illinois State’s Brayden Bakes extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games, while tallying two-plus hits in his last eight outings, as the Redbirds went undefeated last week. He went 12-of-18 from the dish, hitting an impressive .667 on the week with 12 total hits, 13 RBI and eight runs scored. With a pair of hits on Sunday, Bakes has now turned in 16 multi-hit games in 2026. Nearly a year to the date, Bakes matched his career high with three home runs on Friday night, becoming the second Redbird this season with three homers and five RBI in a single game. 

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Michael Addari, Illinois State
Junior | RHP | Libertyville, Ill. (Libertyville HS / Michigan State) 
Junior Michael Addari earned his third victory of the season, equaling a career-best 5.0 innings of work in a win over Belmont on Saturday. Addari surpassed his previous career high with seven strikeouts in the win, while only walking one. In his last two starts, Addari has limited opponents to just two unearned runs to lead The Valley with a 1.04 ERA this season, 


NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Caden Miller, Indiana State
Junior | Utility | Lockport, Ill. (Alvin CC)
Caden Miller finished the week among Indiana State’s hitting leaders from the plate as the junior infielder/catcher recorded multi-hit games in three of the four contests on the week, drove in four RBIs, and scored five runs. Miller doubled three times and connected on a home run as the Sycamores went 3-1 overall on the week.Miller opened the midweek against Illinois connecting on the game-tying two-run home run in the fourth inning of the Sycamores’ 4-3 11th inning win over the Fighting Illini. After going hitless on Friday night, Miller responded by driving in the go-ahead run on Saturday in Indiana State’s 8-3 win over the Braves. Miller’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth scored Carter Beck and highlighted his 2-for-4 day at the plate. He followed up on Sunday afternoon reaching base on five of his six plate appearances, connecting on a double while scoring three runs in the series finale win over Bradley.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Colin Sander, Indiana State
Freshman | Infielder | Louisville, Ky. (Trinity HS)
Colin Sander seized his first opportunity to start in the Indiana State lineup and the Sycamore freshman made it count this past weekend against Bradley. Sander
recorded three multi-hit games, driving in five RBIs and scoring four runs, while adding a double, triple, and home run in the series win over the Braves.Sander drove in Indiana State’s first run of the weekend on his first collegiate hit on Friday night with an RBI triple down the right field line highlighting his two-hit effort on the day. He kept the bat going in the second game, an 8-3 win on Saturday afternoon, with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to stretch the Indiana State lead to 7-1. Sander added his first double and first stolen base in the contest. The Louisville, Ky. native closed out the weekend series connecting on a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to put Indiana State on the board starting the 18-run comeback. Sander added an RBI fielder’s choice in the game and added three runs scored on the afternoon to close out the weekend.Sander also set up Indiana State’s midweek 4-3 win over Illinois as the freshman dropped down a key sacrifice bunt in the 11th inning moving Caleb Niehaus to second base before Emil Estrella’s game-winning single in the victory over the Fighting Illini.