Junior David Toth closed out the 2021 regular season the way he's been all year for the Hillsdale College baseball team -- overpowering on the mound.
Toth was recognized for the third time this year by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, earning G-MAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors for the week of May 3-10, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native captured the award after one of his most effective starts in a string of several of them this season. Toth pitched seven innings with nine strikeouts and two walks against visiting Findlay on Friday, scattering seven hits and giving up just two runs and no earned runs in a 5-3 victory that helped the Chargers lock up a sixth place finish in the G-MAC and the sixth seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament this week.
Toth has been excellent all season for the Chargers. He opened the year with a no-hitter against Maryville on Feb. 27, the first day of the season, the program's first no-hitter in at least three decades. The junior struck out 10 batters in that 1-0 victory, and he's continued to punch out opposing hitters at a historic rate -- five of his 10 starts this season have been double-digit strikeout games, with a season-high of 12 against both Malone and Cedarville, and his 91 strikeouts so far this season broke the old Charger record of 82 strikeouts set by Will Kruse in 2017. He's currently tied for fifth all-time in G-MAC history for single-season strikeouts with at least one more G-MAC tournament start remaining, and could become just the third pitcher in G-MAC history to post a 100-strikeout season this week.
Nationally in Division II, he's currently tied for 13th in strikeouts in 2021, with just two of the 15 players he's tied with or behind having put up their strikeout numbers in fewer innings than the 58.1 Toth has pitched this season.
Toth is currently 3-2 on the year with a 4.32 ERA and a K/9 of 14.04. He and the Chargers open G-MAC tournament play at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at Legacy Field in Mason, Ohio, taking on third-seeded Ohio Dominican. Win or lose, the Chargers will play again on Thursday.
Photo by Anthony Lupi