Baseball

MVC Baseball Weekly Notebook (March 31)

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference announced its baseball weekly honors on Tuesday. Murray State's Conner Cunningham and Jacob Hustedde have been named the MVC Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. Illinois State's Luke Teschke is the MVC Newcomer of the Week, while Evansville's Tanner Graham earned his third MVC Freshman of the Week laurel. 

Conference News & Notes
  • With its second Missouri Valley Conference series sweep of the season, Murray State jumped to 19-9 overall and remains undefeated in league play (6-0) heading into this week.
  • Illinois State and Indiana State are currently second in the MVC standings with a 4-2 ledger while Evansville (2-1) and UIC (3-3) are also at, or above, .500 heading into the third week of Conference play. 
  • This week’s slate features all nine programs playing on Tuesday, including five contests against Big Ten foes. All three-game series will be conducted Thursday to Saturday this week, including Valparaiso’s three-game set at the Big Ten’s Washington. 
  • In Monday’s edition of the NCBWA Top 25 Poll, Illinois State and Murray State were each receiving votes. 
  • The Racers will play their first games of the year at Johnny Reagan Field, the site of the 2026 MVC Baseball Championship, on April 2-4, when Murray State hosts Belmont. This offseason, several facility upgrades were made, including an updated scoreboard and installation of a videboard, a brand-new outfield wall, new drainage throughout the outfield and FieldTurf within the infield. 
  • Belmont, Evansville and Indiana State each earned series victories last weekend over their respective opponents. 
  • Four players in The Valley have 40-plus hits on the year, including three Redbirds, led by Brayden Bakes’ 47. Bakes leads the league in home runs (10), runs scored (33) and batting average (.392). 
  • Indiana State’s Hunter Small has made a league-leading 15 appearances on the mound this season, while teammate Ty Brooks has recorded a Valley-high eight starts and five wins.
  • A trio of players - Illinois State’s Michael Addari, Murray State’s Jacob Hustedde and Southern Illinois’ Andrew Evans - lead the MVC in earned run average (ERA), ranking in the Top 30 nationally in the category. Addari’s 1.13 ERA is the seventh-best in Division I. 
  • Belmont skipper Dave Jarvis is one victory away from 800 career wins in his 29-year career leading the Bruins
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Conner Cunningham, Murray State
Sophomore | Infielder | Batesville, Ark. (Batesville HS)
Conner Cunningham was instrumental in the Racers’ 3-1 week, as Murray State moved to 6-0 in Valley play and 19-9 overall. Cunningham went 8-of-16 (.500) at the plate with six runs scored, eight RBI, three doubles and four walks. He delivered three of his eight RBI in a 14-4 setback at No. 19 Kentucky to start the week. Cunningham tallied two more multi-RBI games at Bradley, while notching a single-game career-high four hits in the series finale.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Jacob Hustedde, Murray State
Junior | RHP | Breese, Ill. (Mater Dei HS)
Murray State’s Jacob Hustedde had a carer day on Saturday, as the Racers earned the 11-0 shutout over Bradley to remain undefeated in MVC play. Hustedde struck out a career-high 11 batters across six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a pair of walks. With his performance, Hustedde became the first Racer to strike out at least 11 batters since Jacob Pennington struck out 12 in 2024. Hustedde has allowed just two earned runs over his last 26.2 innings pitched and has a season ERA of 1.61.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Luke Teschke, Illinois State
Redshirt Freshman | RHP | Monticello, Ill. (Monticello HS)
Illinois State’s Luke Teschke earned his second-career win on Sunday in the series finale at Evansville. The right-handed pitcher went 5.0 innings, giving up just one run, two hits and three walks. Teschke notched a career-high six strikeouts, bringing his season total to 24, as he has allowed just four hits and two earned runs across 11.0 innings of league action this season.  

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Tanner Graham, Evansville
Freshman | RHP | Rocheport, Mo. (Hickman HS)
Evansville’s Tanner Graham earned his fourth win of the season, moving to 4-0 on the year, with a career-best 7.0 inning outing against Illinois State on Saturday to claim the series win for the Purple Aces. Graham did not issue a walk or an extra-base hit in his performance, striking out a career-high eight batters, while lowering his season ERA to 2.96.