Valparaiso University senior Sam Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week after enjoying a weekend to remember in the final home series of her career, reaching base in all 11 of her plate appearances and breaking Valpo’s single-season home runs and walks records.

Stewart opened the weekend by being walked in each of her first three plate appearances in the series opener with Wright State. She finally got a pitch to hit in the bottom of the seventh, trailing by a run, and drilled it into left field for a leadoff single – leading to her eventually scoring the tying run.

The second game of the series saw Stewart break the pair of program single-season records to cap off her Senior Day. She opened the game with a solo homer in the first to tie the home run mark. The Raiders then intentionally walked her in each of her next two plate appearances, first tying and then breaking the single-season walks record. Stewart closed out the game with a two-run homer to finish up the run-rule victory, her 15^th round –tripper of the year to set a new Valpo standard.

On Sunday, Wright State decided it wanted no part of Stewart, intentionally walking her in each of her three plate appearances. The senior still found a way to leave her mark offensively, however, coming around to score the tying run as the Crusaders rallied in the sixth inning for the 2-1 victory.

For the weekend, Stewart went 3-for-3 with eight walks – five intentional. She hit two home runs and drove in three runs while scoring six runs as well. By reaching base in 11 consecutive plate appearances, Stewart is already tied for the seventh-longest streak of consecutive plate appearances reaching in NCAA history.