INDIANAPOLIS – Fresh off the conference tournament title, Hillsdale was awarded the final Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Players of the Week honors announced on Tuesday.
 
The Chargers earned the No. 8 seed with the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. The conference is additionally represented by No. 4 Ohio Dominican in the bracket as an at-large selection.
 
Hillsdale was 4-1 in the conference playoffs, toppling Kentucky Wesleyan in the championship final via the run rule, 15-2. The Chargers also beat Trevecca, Walsh and Malone, on their way to earning the conference automatic qualifier.
 
Player of the Week
Steven Ring
Hillsdale
Catcher
Junior
Northville, MI (Brother Rice HS)
 
Ring had one of the best single games in conference history – ever.
 
With a new league record nine RBI and three home runs, the junior catcher slugged his way into the record books while helping the Chargers finish a Great Midwest Championship title run.
 
The previous record of eight RBI in a single game was held by David Lenhardt (2013) of Cedarville and Trevecca’s Hunter Newman (2015). The three home runs tied a single-game record that was set three times this spring along with Alderson Broaddus’ Chuck Hooker (vs. Jefferson) and KWC’s Joseph Burke (vs. Oakland City).
 
Ring did that damage in the championship final against Kentucky Wesleyan as the Chargers run-ruled the defending conference champ Panthers in seven innings. He had three home runs by the fourth inning and drove in his ninth run of the game on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
 
His third home run of the game was off of left-handed pitching and cleared the tall bleachers out in right field at PRASCO Park.
 
In all, Ring homered four times in the conference tournament and chipped in a two-run shot against Malone.
 
In five games Ring had 12 RBI, three walks, a pair of sacrifice flies and four runs scored.
 
Going into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional, Ring is a .297 hitter with 28 extra-base hits, including 15 home runs and 13 doubles. He leads the Chargers with 52 RBI and has started 52 of the team’s possible 54 games.
 
Pitcher of the Week
Joe Hamrick
Hillsdale
RHP
Sophomore
Rochester, MI (Stony Creek HS)
 
With a conference championship on the line, Hamrick toed the rubber and delivered just what the Chargers needed with the rotation running thin on arms.
 
The sophomore righty stymied a powerful Kentucky Wesleyan offense as the Panthers played their seventh game in four days. He came into the tournament with just 9.1 innings pitched on the season, all in a relief role.
 
Hamrick went the distance with seven innings and gave up two runs on eight hits with one strikeout. It was his first winning decision of the year.
 
Hamrick was the latest Charger to help the program earn the tournament title as sophomore Andrew Verbrugge and senior Will Kruse started to set the stage for a pair of one-run wins early in the bracket.
 
Kolton Rominski also had two strong multi-inning bullpen appearances while freshman David Toth had a save against Trevecca.