Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Cushing and Baldwin Earn C-USA Player of the Week Honors
3/12/2018 3:00:00 PM | Softball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – With a 2-2 weekend on the diamond, including a 4-1 win over LA Tech, the Middle Tennessee softball team swept the weekly C-USA Player and Pitcher of the Week awards.
Sophomore Lexi Cushing earned her second Player of the Week honor while freshman Amber Baldwin picked up her first Pitcher of the Week award.
Cushing was an offensive powerhouse for the Blue Raiders last week. In the two wins, Cushing was a perfect 3-for-3 as she went 7-for-12 at the plate on the week. Five of her seven hits were extra base hits. Cushing had three doubles, two home runs, three runs scored and six RBI in the four game stretch. Four of those six RBI came in the 4-1 win over LA Tech in the series finale. Both of her home runs also came against the Lady Techsters, her fifth and sixth of the season.
Cushing led the Blue Raiders in every offensive category on the week except on base percentage (.583) as she slugged a monstrous 1.333 and amassed 16 total bases. Cushing also had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at first base and led the Blue Raiders in putouts (31). On the year now, Cushing's batting average has surpassed .400 while her slugging percentage has topped .800. She also now leads the team in RBI with 19.
"Lexi had a great week," said Head Coach Jeff Breeden. "She hit .583, had some bombs, had a bunch of RBI and had a really high slugging percentage. This is Lexi's second award this season and she's matured into a really good hitter. This is big honor for our program, for Lexi and the rest of the team. She is a really great student athlete."
Baldwin started two games in the circle for MT, going 1-0 on the weekend. She pitched 12 innings against LA Tech on the weekend. In her first outing, she allowed no runs on three hits and had one strikeout in five innings of work. Then on Sunday, she threw the complete game win over LA Tech, allowing just one run on four hits. In the win, she also had four hitless innings of work while striking out three. The effort produced a 0.58 ERA for the freshman on the week.
"It's Amber's first pitcher of the week award," said Breeden. "She pitched 12 innings this weekend against LA Tech, who was a very good team and the previous conference champions. She got one win against them and gave up one earned run, which was a home run yesterday. She pitched great and it's a great award for her as a freshman. I think she is going to get several more of these down the road as her career here continues. We can't be more pleased with where she is right now and as she matures she will continue to be great for us. It's a really good honor for her and our program."
Baldwin, Cushing and the rest of the Blue Raiders return to the Blue Raider Softball Field on Wednesday, March 14, at 6 p.m. as Rhode Island comes to town.
