ROSEMONT, Ill. – After a blistering hot weekend against Western Kentucky, redshirt freshman designated hitter Brayden Ricketts was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday (March 2) evening. He helped the Hoosiers to a 3-2 week which featured a trio of important road victories.
Ricketts, who has taken firm control of the third spot on the lineup card, hit .600 (9-15) in a four-game series in Bowling Green. He added a hit in a midweek win over Xavier to finish the busy stretch of games with 10 base knocks in 20 at-bats. The Brampton, Ontario native slugged his first two career home runs on Sunday (March 1) afternoon to secure a victory over the Hilltoppers. He added seven RBIs this weekend and scored four times.
The young hitter redshirted last year but has taken full advantage of the opportunity during the 2026 campaign. He is the 14th different player in the Jeff Mercer era (2019 – Present) to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for IU. Five of the Hoosiers’ regular starters (Moore, Ricketts, Hanley, Denny and Malamazian) have now won the award at some point in their career.
On the season, Ricketts has worked his batting average up to .381 across 10 starts. He’s riding an eight-game hitting streak with an OPS of 1.080. He’s had multi-hit games in four of his last six contests and is hitting .400 (16-40) since entering the starting lineup in the final game of the North Carolina series.
Big Ten Weekly Awards (March 2nd)
Player: Weber Neels (#22), Sr., C, Minnesota
Pitcher: Mason Edwards (#30), Jr., S-LHP, USC
Freshman: Brayden Ricketts (#42), R-Fr., DH, Indiana