KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced new Athletes of the Week from the second week of the 2026 baseball season. Pittsburg State’s Landin Midgett was named the MIAA Hitter of the Week and Missouri Western’s Cole Evans was named the MIAA Pitcher of the Week.
MIAA HITTER OF THE WEEK: Landin Midgett, Pittsburg State
Landin Midget hit .583 with four extra-base hits and drove in 16 runs to lead No. 16 Pittsburg State to a 4-0 record at the Edmond First Pitch Classic, Feb. 5-8. The Columbus, Kan., native went 4-for-4 with a double, a grand slam and seven RBI in the Gorillas 25-1 over Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday. He also went 2-for-3 with a double and five RBI in a 19-0 win over East Central on Saturday, and capped the weekend with three more RBI in an 18-1 victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Sunday. For the week, Midgett slugged 1.083 and had a .600 on-base percentage. He's currently hitting .474 with an MIAA-leading 21 RBI through seven games played.
MIAA PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Cole Evans, Missouri Western
Cole Evans got the start in the second game of Missouri Western’s home-opening series against Concordia-St. Paul and earned the win with a 7-0 victory over the Golden Bears. The junior tossed nine scoreless innings, allowed just one hit, struck out 11 batters, and issued two walks on 102 pitches in a complete game.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
MIAA HITTERS
Frank Gall, Northwest Missouri
Frank Gall recorded a hit in all four games and batted .500 with nine hits, six runs scored, two homers and seven RBI in 18 at-bats while helping the Bearcats to a 3-1 week. Gall had an .833 slugging percentage and was a perfect 6-of-6 in stolen bases. In game two against Arkansas-Monticello, Gall went 4-for-6 with two runs scored, six RBI – including a grand slam. In game three, he went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Grant Hollister, Central Missouri
Grant Hollister hit .438 as No. 2-ranked UCM swept Arkansas Tech in a four-game series Feb. 6-8 in Warrensburg. The sophomore infielder had seven hits, five runs, three doubles, one triple, five RBI, a .750 slugging percentage, a .526 on-base percentage, and struck out just one time in 16 at-bats. He went 3-for-5 with a double, triple, two RBI, and two runs scored in the Mules' 16-6 series-opening win on Friday. He added a 1-for-2 performance with a double in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, then went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBI in the series finale.
Evan Abbott, Emporia State
Evan Abbott recorded three multi-hit games in three tries at the Edmond First Pitch Classic, with his biggest game coming against East Central in the opener. He went 2-for-5 with two walks and opened the scoring with a double, and later launched a grand slam to give him five RBI in the game. Abbott finished the weekend going 7-for-14 with two doubles, one home run, three walks and six RBI. The freshman has driven in 17 runs through the first seven games.
MIAA PITCHERS
Colby Deaver, Emporia State
Colby Deaver pitched the second game of the weekend against the Tritons and allowed just two hits and no runs on his way to the seven-inning shutout win. The sophomore also struck out eight batters for the second consecutive outing and now has 16 strikeouts and no walks to begin the season.
Jase Johnson, Northwest Missouri
Jase Johnson moved to 2-0 on the season as he pitched five innings of relief and earned the victory in a 5-3 decision over Arkansas-Monticello in game three of the four-game series. The sophomore struck out 12 batters and allowed six hits in 9.2 innings. He did not walk a batter and gave up only one run.
Mylan Childers, Central Oklahoma
Mylan Childers came out of the bullpen for two relief appearances this week and proved to be a dominant arm for the Bronchos. In his appearance against East Central last Thursday (Feb. 5), the junior struck out all six batters he faced. He returned Sunday and struck out two of three batters.
ALSO NOMINATED:
HITTERS – Luke Stout [Central Oklahoma], Jackson Dillingham [Northeastern State], Luke Parmentier [Missouri Western], Garretson Cook [Fort Hays State], Sammy Harris [Rogers State], Levi Risenhoover [Washburn], Brayden Luikart [Missouri Southern]
PITCHERS – Ray Wei [Northeastern State], Dillon Dibrell [Rogers State], Brandon Chavez [Fort Hays State], Maclane Finley [Washburn], Owen Schneider [Missouri Southern]
2026 MIAA BASEBALL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
WEEK ONE HITTER: Derek Woolwine, Fort Hays State
WEEK ONE PITCHER: Colby Deaver, Emporia State
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WEEK TWO HITTER: Landin Midgett, Pittsburg State
WEEK TWO PITCHER: Cole Evans, Missouri Western