Baseball

MVC Baseball Weekly Notebook (May 11)

ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced its baseball weekly award winners on Monday.

Player & Newcomer of the Week: Ashton Kampa, UIC
Pitcher of the Week: Troy Shepard, Southern Illinois
Freshman of the Week: Spike Magill, Evansville

Conference News & Notes
  • With one week remaining in the regular season, all six spots for the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship have been claimed. The final series of MVC action will be played Thursday to Saturday this week.
  • The only school in the field that cannot claim the top spot is Illinois State, who will be either the 4-5-6 seed and play on Wednesday (May 20). UIC and Indiana State can finish no worse than fifth, while all others - Evansville, Murray State and Southern Illinois - could finish anywhere from 1-6.
  • The 2026 MVC Baseball Championship will be held May 20-23, at Johnny Reagan Field at Taylor Family Park in Murray, Kentucky. This year’s event is presented by Credit Union 1 and the Murray Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
  • Indiana State clinched its seventh series win of the season with a 10-8 win at Murray State on Saturday. The win marked the third time in the last four seasons that the Sycamores have won their first seven series of the Conference slate.
  • UIC rallied from three down to walk off Illinois State on Saturday, claiming the series against the Redbirds. The Flames scored four unanswered runs in the bottom of the ninth to win it, 9-8. Ashton Kampa’s fourth hit of the game walked it off for UIC with a single to right field.
  • A nine-run fifth inning fueled Southern Illinois to a series sweep of Belmont on Sunday, powering past the Bruins, 13-4. Six Salukis tallied multi-hit outings, led by Gabe Petrucelli, who finished with his first-career four-hit performance.
  • Evansville secured its fifth MVC series win of the season on Sunday afternoon, shutting out Valparaiso, 11-0. Chris McCormack made his first start of the season, firing seven scoreless innings, limiting the Beacons to a trio of hits to go with his four strikeouts.
  • As a team, Illinois State leads The Valley in batting average (.303), while four players, led by Brayden Bakes (.389), are hitting over .300 individually.
  • An impressive 19 players are hitting over .300 this season, while five of those are batting over .350. In league play, Bradley’s Landon Lowe (.423), UIC’s Ashton Kampa (.417), Indiana State’s Mason Roell (.403) and Illinois State’s Brayden Bakes (.400) are all batting at least .400.
  • The Redbirds are first in the league in team ERA (4.94), while Michael Addari sits just ahead of Southern Illinois’ Andrew Evans (2.50) with a 2.17 ERA. Evans’ 83 strikeouts lead the MVC, followed closely by Evansville’s Max Hansmann (77).
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PLAYER & NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Ashton Kampa, UIC
Junior | Utility | Muskego, Wis. (Bryan & Statton College)
UIC’s Ashton Kampa put together one of the most dominant offensive weeks in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, batting .750 (15-for-20) with four home runs, four doubles, 11 RBI and eight runs scored. The junior utility player delivered multiple clutch moments for the Flames, including a walk-off single against Illinois State on Saturday to help UIC secure the series win, and a game-tying two-run homer on Sunday to force extra innings. He recorded multi-hit and multi-RBI performances in all four games for UIC last week, including three with four-plus hits. 

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Troy Shepard, Southern Illinois
Senior | LHP | Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho (Washington State)
Troy Shepard turned in a dominant performance in Southern Illinois’ 9-4 win over Belmont on Saturday, tossing a season-best 8.0 innings while allowing just one run and striking out seven. After surrendering a leadoff home run, the senior left-hander settled in and controlled the game the rest of the way, walking only one batter and helping the Salukis secure a key MVC road victory and a spot in the 2026 MVC Baseball Championship field.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Spike Magill, Evansville
Freshman | Catcher | Highlands Ranch, Colo. (Mountain Vista HS)
Evansville’s Spike Magill continued his standout freshman campaign by hitting .583 (7-for-12) during Evansville’s series win over Valparaiso to clinch a spot in the MVC Tournament. The freshman catcher posted a .615 on-base percentage, recorded a pair of three-hit games and continues to lead the MVC in on-base percentage at .505. Magill has tallied multi-hit performances in nine league games this year.