INDIANAPOLIS – Hillsdale and Malone received Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Players of the Week honors for the North Division as league play officially started last week.
 
Hillsdale (7-13, 4-0 G-MAC) put up some big numbers on the scoreboard as the Chargers swept Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins on Saturday. HC scored 24 runs, the current season high around the league, and also produced 15 runs in a single game.
 
Nationally-ranked Ohio Dominican (13-4, 2-0 G-MAC) won its fifth and sixth straight games with a pair of victories against Ohio Valley. Lake Erie (5-9-1, 3-1 G-MAC) also gritted out three close conference wins in four tries, including one in extras and one by a 4-3 final.
 
Malone (12-7, 2-2 G-MAC) and Walsh arguably had the toughest divisional matchups crossed over to the South. The Pioneers swept defending conference tourney champ Kentucky Wesleyan before splitting the weekend with a pair of setbacks against Trevecca.
 
Findlay (8-4, 1-1 G-MAC) was able to salvage a DH split against Alderson Broaddus in a pair of one-run results with some entertaining pitcher’s duels. Walsh (7-9, 1-3 G-MAC) won its Great Midwest debut against Trevecca but fell in three straight to the same combination of Malone’s opening-weekend opponents.
 
North Division Player of the Week
Steven Ring
Hillsdale
Catcher/Outfield
Junior
Northville, MI (Brother Rice HS)
 
Between Ring, Findlay’s Ryan O’Malley and Ohio Dominican’s Colin Kaucher, the Great Midwest’s North Division boasts some extremely talented backstops. The junior catcher/outfielder Ring simply went wild at the plate in four games.
 
Ring batted .625 with a 10-for-16 line at the dish, slugged three home runs and had nine RBI. He also doubled in all four contests and scored seven times.
 
He torched Alderson Broaddus for three extra-base hits, a pair of homers and a double, in game one of the Saturday doubleheader. He was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with four runs scored.
 
After doubling against the Battlers, Ring hit the reset button against Davis & Elkins and homered and doubled to start another series. He was 3-for-5 against D&E with four RBI and a pair of runs scored.
 
In game two to finish out the weekend, Ring played catcher and first defensively while ripping another double and plating three Hillsdale runs. He walked and sported an on-base percentage of .647 and slugging percentage of 1.438.
 
Ring is now batting .342 on the spring with four home runs and 17 RBI in all 19 possible games started for the Chargers.
 
North Division Pitcher of the Week
Joshua Hurford
Malone
RHP
Senior
Sebring, OH (Sebring McKinley HS)
 
Hurford tossed more zeroes on the scoreboard with his latest gem, a complete-game five-hit shutout against Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
Hurford used just 68 pitches in the 4-0 Pioneers’ win as he struck out four and scattered five hits while allowing no walks.
 
Hurford has been electric this spring with a 0.71 ERA and 2-0 record in four starts. He has logged 251 innings pitched with 20 strikeouts and has been touched for just two earned runs. He is also hitting opposing hitters to a .169 average.
 
Including last year, Hurford is 9-0 with a 1.24 ERA in 80 innings pitched, including eight shutouts and 14 complete games out of 26 starts.