Central Michigan University Athletics
Baseball Hands Out Season-Ending Awards
5/31/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Blake Cleveland and Zach Heeke were double award winners on Tuesday at the Central Michigan baseball program's annual banquet.
Heeke, a sophomore infielder from Mount Pleasant, earned both the Most Valuable Player Award and the Most Improved Player Award; Cleveland, a junior catcher from Nappanee, Ind., was named the team captain and received the Chippewa Award, which is presented to the player who best represents the program's mission statement.
Junior pitcher Pat Leatherman was named the Kevin J. Young Memorial Endowment winner. The endowment is named in honor of the late Kevin Young, who earned the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Award in 1994.
The awards are voted upon by players and coaches.
Heeke, junior second baseman Jason Sullivan and sophomore pitcher Cam Brown each earned a spot on the MAC All-Tournament team.
Academic awards went to Logan Buczkowski, for holding the highest grade point average among freshmen; to Colton Bradley, for the top GPA among seniors; and to Ty Rollin, for the best GPA among non-seniors and non-freshmen.
Heeke finished the season with a team-best .346 batting average and an on-base percentage of .520, which ranks sixth nationally. He also shared the team lead with a .425 slugging percentage. He hit .400 with a .666 on-base percentage and four RBI in five MAC Tournament games.
Cleveland emerged as the Chippewas' starting catcher and hit .252 in his first year as a fulltime starter.
Sullivan hit .333 with five runs and five RBI in the MAC Tournament, while Brown allowed just one earned run in throwing a six-hit complete game in a 7-2 victory over Ball State in his lone league-tourney appearance.
