ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Indiana State's Jeremy Martinez was named Missouri Valley Baseball Co-Freshman of the Year highlighting five Sycamores recognized with postseason honors as voted on by the league's head coaches and media members as announced by the conference office on Tuesday morning.
 
Martinez becomes just the third Indiana State player in program history to earn MVC Freshman of the Year recognition since the award's inception in 1994. He joins Mitch Stetter (2000) and Ryan Keaffaber (2014) as the lone Sycamores to receive the recognition.
 
Carlos Pena (1B), Carter Beck (OF), and Gavin Morris (RP) all received Missouri Valley Conference First Team honors, while Max McEwen (SP) was named to the All-MVC Second Team.
 
Martinez shares the Co-Freshman of the Year honors with Murray State's Connor Cunningham as the Caguas, Puerto Rico native has served as Indiana State's primary catcher over a majority of the 2025 season. Martinez has lined up 48 games with 44 starts over the course of his first collegiate season, recording a .255 batting average with 11 doubles and 21 RBIs. He's primarily sat in the middle of the Indiana State lineup over the season and has added three home runs at the plate, while throwing out 11 base runners on the base paths.
 
Martinez's numbers have gone up in Missouri Valley competition with a .275 batting average over 25 games with 22 starts in MVC play. The freshman is fourth on the team in hits (25) and fifth in RBIs (12) in conference play. Highlighting his conference season includes homering against both UIC (Mar. 29) and Bradley (May 2), while adding eight multi-hit games and four multi-RBI contests at the plate.
 
Pena receives the All-Conference nod for the first time in his Indiana State career as the Bayside, N.Y. native has split time at first base, designated hitter, and right field over the course of the season. Pena has been among the Valley leaders in batting average (.328), hits (66), home runs (14), RBIs (49), and slugging percentage (.617) over the course of the season, while adding a .447 on-base percentage and eight stolen bases.
 
Lining up in the middle of the Indiana State lineup, Pena has a team-high three multi-homer games after connecting on two home runs apiece against Belmont (Apr. 6), Southern Illinois (Apr. 12), and Illinois (Apr. 22). He's currently second on the team with 22 multi-hit games, including a four-hit contest against Belmont, while adding 14 multi-RBI games at the plate.
 
Beck earns the First Team MVC nod for the first time as the Carnduff, Saskatchewan, Canada native enters the postseason as one of the leading hitters in the Valley. The sophomore center fielder is seventh in the MVC in runs (53), fifth in hits (73), and fourth in RBI (56), while hitting .326 from the plate. He currently leads the Sycamores in doubles (15) and is second in home runs (11) while adding 11 stolen bases.
 
Beck has been even better in MVC play hitting .368 from the plate while sitting third in the conference in hits (42), fourth in RBIs (33), and ninth in doubles (8) while hitting primarily atop the Indiana State lineup. Beck paces Indiana State with 23 multi-hit games and 17 multi-RBI contests, and added a team-high 17 game hit streak that spanned mid-April through the beginning of May.
 
Morris earns MVC honors for the first time as the Brazil, Ind. native has been nigh unhittable over the course of the 2025 season. The senior right-hander leads the Missouri Valley in ERA (1.51) by nearly a full run and a half, while sitting first in the league in opponent batting average (.165) and ninth in strikeouts (37) over 35.2 innings on the mound. He's posted a 4-1 record in league play with four saves over 14 appearances and has allowed only six runs in Valley competition.
 
The senior right-hander posted an overall ERA of 3.35 with a 6-3 record and four saves over 22 appearances and 53.2 innings pitched. Opponents have hit .226 from the plate and he's added a 46:19 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Morris highlighted the year by pitching twice in the same conference weekend on five separate occasions and had eight games where he recorded 2.0 or more scoreless innings in relief work, including a 4.0-inning, one-hit, 29-pitch outing against Murray State on April 27.
 
McEwen earned Second Team All-MVC honors as the redshirt sophomore emerged as one of the true aces in the Missouri Valley before his season ended due to injury. The Sellersburg, Ind. native posted a 6-3 record with a 4.63 ERA over 58.1 innings while allowing opponents to hit just .223 over the course of the season. He finished among the league leaders with 64 strikeouts despite not playing over the final two weeks of the season.
 
McEwen highlighted his season winning four consecutive MVC starts on the mound spanning Belmont (Apr. 4), Southern Illinois (Apr. 11), Evansville (Apr. 17), and Murray State (Apr. 26). He posted back-to-back games against both Evansville and Murray State where he combined to record 12.2 innings of scoreless baseball allowing just six hits while striking out 12 in wins over the Aces and the Racers.
 
Indiana State opens the MVC Baseball Championships on Tuesday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Ill. as the No. 8 Sycamores take on the No. 5 Redbirds with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. ET. The game is scheduled to be carried live on ESPN+ and 105.5 The Legend.
 
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