CHICAGO – Ahead of the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament, the conference announced its 2026 postseason baseball awards Tuesday morning, with eight UIC representatives earning honors.
Junior
Ashton Kampa collected Newcomer of the Year and All-MVC First Team honors for his efforts this Spring. The Muskego, Wis. native was an absolute nightmare for pitchers in the batter's box, batting a team-leading .411 against MVC opponents, collecting 37 hits, five home runs and maintaining a .689 slugging percentage.
Kampa's best week came in the final four games at Curtis Granderson Stadium. He batted .750, collected 15 hits, four home runs, four doubles, 11 RBI and scored eight times in games against Milwaukee/Illinois State. Earning national recognition, Kampa was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Dick Howser Trophy's Co-Hitter of the Week,
64Analytics.com's Top Hitter of the Week and was recognized by
D1Baseball.com as one of the nation's top 100 hitters of the week.
The junior becomes the fourth consecutive member of the Flames to earn Newcomer of the Year honors. He joins
Charlie Szykowny (2023),
Kendall Ewell (2024) and
Luke Pelzer (2025) to have be recognized.
Junior
Vidal Colon, who could be penciled in at multiple positions across the field, earned Missouri Valley Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors and a spot on the All-MVC Defensive Team for his work with the glove. His diving, on-the-run grabs were a regular highlight, including a play against UNC Greensboro that ranked No. 3 on SportsCenter's Top 10 on March 16.
He finished conference play with a .986 fielding percentage, 72 chances, 61 putouts and 10 assists. Colon is the first UIC player to earn a share of MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors and the first since
Zane Zielinski in 2024 to be named to the All-MVC Defensive Team.
Head coach
Sean McDermott was named Dan Callahan Coach of the Year, as voted on by the Missouri Valley Conference's sports information directors. In his fifth season, McDermott led the Flames to their first regular-season conference title in nine seasons and a 16-8 MVC record, tying for the most conference wins since 2024. It marks his first coaching honor since taking over the program in 2021 and the program's first since UIC Hall of Fame coach Mike Dee last earned the award from the Horizon League in 2017.
The Flames saw four members of the program earn All-MVC First Team Honors. Joining Kampa was juniors
Jake Busson,
Thomas Curry and
Mason Lei. This is Busson and Curry's second postseason accolade of the week, with both guys making the All-MVC Scholar Athlete Team and Busson being named the 2026 MVC Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Monday.
Busson played in every game this season, splitting time among second base, third base and designated hitter. The junior led the MVC with 17 home runs, including six against conference opponents. He batted .250 in conference play with 26 hits, 20 RBIs and a .481 slugging percentage.
Curry started every conference game behind the plate for the Flames this season. He led the team with eight of his 11 home runs coming in MVC play and ranked second on the team with a .319 batting average against conference opponents. Behind the plate, Curry threw out 10 baserunners and posted a .989 fielding percentage.
Lei was a dominant force on the mound every outing for the Flames, starting every single opening game in each MVC series this Spring. He threw for 54.2 innings, maintaining a 2.96 ERA, striking out 47 batters to finish conference play with a 4-2 record. The two-time MVC Pitcher of the Week went at least six innings in all but one outing against conference opponents and grabbed his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season with 11 strikeouts against Evansville on May 1.
Graduate student
Mark Eddie earned All-MVC Second Team honors after emerging as one of UIC's most reliable bullpen arms this spring. Eddie made 14 appearances in Missouri Valley Conference play, logging 22 innings with 18 strikeouts while allowing just 11 hits. He played a key role in a pitcher's duel against Evansville on May 2, helping secure a 2-1 victory and earning his first and only save of the season with 2.1 innings of relief. The honor marks Eddie's second postseason recognition after he was named to the All-MVC Scholar-Athlete Team on Monday.
In his first full season of NCAA DI baseball, freshman
Sean Cody earned All-MVC Honorable Mention recognition as UIC's everyday shortstop. Not missing a single game in conference play, Cody finished conference play batting .262, collecting 50 hits, nine doubles and 21 RBI. The freshman wasn't shy on the base path this season, collecting a team-leading 10 stolen bases. In the field, Cody stockpiled numerous acrobatic defensive plays for the Flames, maintaining a .953 fielding percentage in conference play.
After capturing the 2026 MVC regular-season title over the weekend, the UIC baseball team secured the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament in Murray, Ky. The Flames earned a first-round bye and will face the tournament's lowest remaining seed at 11 a.m. CT Thursday at Johnny Reagan Field at Taylor Family Park.
The tournament, presented by Credit Union 1, will be double-elimination and will stream live on ESPN+ throughout. Live stats will also be available for fans at
UICFlames.com. Fans interested in attending the games will have free admission.
Fans interested in more information are encouraged to head to UIC's
Championship Central page or the MVC's
Championship Central page.
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