After a breakout weekend that included four home runs in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series against Bradley, Valparaiso University baseball freshman Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest) has been named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

Maka enjoyed the first three-homer game by a Missouri Valley Conference player in league play this season in Friday’s series opener vs. Bradley, when he became the first Valpo player since 2018 and just the second since 2008 to achieve that feat. That came as part of a four-hit game to begin a three-game series that saw him launch four home runs and record five extra-base hits.

Maka went 7-for-13 (.538) over the three games with six RBIs, six runs scored, 20 total bases and a 1.538 slugging percentage. The rookie outfielder posted a career-high four hits in the series opener before following with three in Saturday’s 8-2 victory. Maka was second on D1Baseball.com’s list of the top 30 hitting performances in the nation on Friday, May 13.

Maka becomes the first Valpo player to earn a National Player of the Week honor since Colin Fields did so on March 15, 2021 following his no-hitter against Middle Tennessee State.