ST. LOUIS – Illinois State's Matt Walker has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week following his standout performance against then-No. 12 Missouri State on Friday, the league announced Monday. Indiana State's Clay Dungan was named the MVC Player of the Week.
Walker, a freshman from Morris, Illinois, allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings in the Redbirds' 8-4 win over the Bears, which marked Missouri State's only loss to a league team during the 2017 regular season. Missouri State was the only remaining Division I team without a conference loss at the time of the Redbirds' win on Friday.
Walker walked two and struck out four in the first pitching victory of his collegiate career. The left-hander needed only 84 pitches to get through six innings in his longest outing of the season.
Walker and the Illinois State baseball team will head to Springfield, Missouri, for the MVC Tournament, beginning Wednesday. The No. 8 seed Redbirds will open up against top seed and host Missouri State, at 7:30 p.m., at Hammons Field.
Illinois State will play either No. 4 Southern Illinois or No. 5 Wichita State in its second game, on Thursday, with Walker scheduled to start.
Links for live stats and video from the MVC Tournament are available at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also follow @RedbirdBaseball on Twitter for live updates and more.
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