BASEBALL: Belmont’s Behrends, Middle Tennessee’s Brown named TSWA Players of the Week
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Belmont’s John Behrends and Middle Tennessee’s Aaron Brown earned Tennessee Sports Writers Association’s Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week honors, respectively, for games from March 29-April 4.
Behrends batted .476 (9-for-21) with two home runs, four extra-base hits, five runs scored and eight RBIs in five games for the Bruins.
The Chattanooga, Tenn., native singled, scored a run and drove in another versus UT Martin and collected two hits with a two-run homer, an RBI single and four total RBIs against Trevecca University.
The junior registered three hits in both games of a doubleheader versus Eastern Illinois, including an RBI single and a two-run single in the opener. He added a solo homer and three runs scored in the series finale.
Behrends is hitting .413 with nine doubles, five home runs, 26 RBIs and 25 runs scored in 24 games this season for the Bruins.
Brown tossed a complete-game two-hitter in the series opener against Rice, walking one and striking out nine in a 4-1 victory. The Blue Raiders scored three times in the eighth to break a 1-all contest.
The Mt. Juliet, Tenn., native retired the side in order four times and worked around a pair of errors, the first complete-game two-hitter by a Blue Raider hurler since Zac Curtis in 2014.
In addition to nine his punchouts, his fifth outing in seven starts this year with at least nine strikeouts, Brown induced 12 ground ball outs and has surrendered one or fewer runs five times this season as well.
He upped his mark to 4-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 42.1 innings, giving up just 25 hits with nine walks and 61 strikeouts. Opponents are batting only .167 against him.
2021 TSWA BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
February 23 – Andrew Keene, Lincoln Memorial (Player); Gunner Becker, Tusculum University (Pitcher)
March 2 – Dominic Keegan, Vanderbilt (Player); Joshua South, Belmont (Pitcher)
March 10 – Fuzzy Furr, Tusculum University (Player); Elijah Pleasants, Tennessee (Pitcher)
March 16 – Isaiah Thomas, Vanderbilt (Player); Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)
March 23 – Liam Spence (Tennessee); Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)
March 30 – Drew Gilbert (Tennessee); Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)