ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Missouri Valley Conference has announced its first selection of weekly awards on Tuesday morning, per the league office. Junior Graham Mastros was named this week's Player of the Week.
Mastros' selection marks the first of his career after a strong performance in the Redbirds' opening weekend series against SEMO, which included five hits, all of which were extra-base hits, including three home runs.
All three of Mastros' home runs on the weekend came on opening day in his 3-for-4 performance, marking the first multi-home run game of his career. Mastros tallied five total runs batted in, also setting a new career-best mark, becoming the first player since Daniel Pacella against Bradley on April 19 last season to tally five RBIs in a contest.
Mastros joins teammate Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes as the only current players on the Redbird roster to record three or more runs in a contest.
In the remaining two games of the series, Mastros added a double in each contest, including a two-RBI double to extend Illinois State's lead in its 7-6 series-clinching victory over SEMO on Friday.
Through the opening weekend of play, Mastros leads the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs (3), RBIs(7), and slugging percentage (1.333).
For the latest updates on Illinois State Baseball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com, follow the Redbirds on X (formerly Twitter) (@RedbirdBaseball), and Instagram (isuredbirdbaseball), and like the team on Facebook (Illinois State Baseball).
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos, and more.
