INDIANAPOLIS – Some inclement weather shuffled schedules around during the weekend as Kentucky Wesleyan and Hillsdale secured Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Players of the Week awards as announced Wednesday.
 
KWC, the preseason conference favorite by the coaches, reeled off a four-game sweep in their first league games this spring. Trevecca Nazarene is holding top position in the standings at 6-0 and edged out Ohio Dominican in a pair of one-run finals. The Trojans improved to 10-3 overall on the year in their first season under coach Chase Sain.
 
Walsh, Findlay and Hillsdale were able take three out of four against their opponents. Lake Erie, despite falling in the series vs. Findlay, did put up 27 runs against the Oilers, which accounted for a new single-game record for a conference game.
 
Player of the Week
Cody Bridges
Kentucky Wesleyan
Outfield
RS Senior
Elizabethtown, KY (Elizabethtown HS)
 
Bridges is your prototypical, toolsy leadoff hitter every coach wants at the top of their order. He had himself a series to remember as the Panthers brought out the brooms against Ohio Valley over the weekend.
 
The rangy center fielder has been with the Kentucky Wesleyan program for some time as a redshirt fifth-year and is a major reason why the Panthers were viewed to win the conference.
 
Bridges recorded 12 hits and hit over .700 while legging out a pair of doubles and a triple in the four game homestand. He scored six runs and had 6 RBI and added a pair of stolen bases.
 
Bridges enjoyed multi-hit efforts in all four contests. In Game 1 of the series on Friday, he was a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs, 2 RBI and a stolen base. The next two games he was 3-for-4 in each and he closed out the series with a 2-for-5 line with a double and triple. He additionally reached base on a walk and hit by pitch.
 
The Panthers are the team league leaders in batting average at a .317 clip. Bridges has a narrow lead over Tiffin’s Nich Green individually, .452 vs. .450. Bridges has 19 hits in 42 at-bats in the season to date. He has also been flawless in the field with 34 putouts in as many attempts.
 
Pitcher of the Week
David Toth
Hillsdale
RHP
Junior
Grosse Pointe, MI (South HS)
 
After firing a no-hitter vs. Maryville, Toth continues to rack up the K’s in bunches, his most recent outing an eye-opener against Malone on Friday.
 
The hard-throwing right is the current conference strikeout king with 49 and he added a dozen to his ledger following a seven-inning no decision vs. the Pioneers.
 
Toth tied the season-high in the conference this spring with Lake Erie’s Ryan Middendorf, who mowed down a dozen against Southern Indiana on Feb. 26.
 
It was already his third double-digit strikeout start of the year after having fanned 10 vs. Maryville and Ohio Valley.
 
Toth allowed just one earned run on four hits while walking a pair. The Chargers scored the go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth frame to help get the series-opening win.
 
Toth has accumulated 49 strikeouts in just 29.2 innings pitched and has a 1-1 record through five starts this season.