Firpo earns honor at Cortland
From staff reports - Observer-Distpach

CORTLAND — Former Rome Free Academy star Eddie Firpo earned SUNY Cortland’s Male Athlete of the Week honor after going 5-for-8 with four RBIs in two baseball games against nationally-ranked teams last week.

Firpo, a junior outfielder, was 3-for-4 with three RBIs as seventh-ranked Cortland knocked off top-ranked, defending NCAA Division III champion Montclair State 16-3 in New Jersey.

A year ago, Cortland beat Montclair in the Division III World Series, but the Red Hawks bounced back to win their next five games in the double-elimination tournament.

Firpo has started only five of Cortland’s 13 games this season, but he is batting .455 (10-for-22) and has seven RBIs for the Red Dragons, who are 9-4. Firpo had two hits and an RBI in a 5-4 loss to No. 24 William Paterson.

Senior infielder Larry Williams (New Hartford) has started every game for Cortland and is hitting .413 with seven RBIs and six stolen bases, and Cory Haggerty (Ilion) has started 11 games and is hitting .333 with three RBIs.

Junior outfielder Ryan Finn (Clinton) became the Siena College baseball team’s all-time home run king when he clubbed a solo shot that helped the Saints complete Sunday’s doubleheader sweep with a 7-0 win over Manhattan College. It was his fifth homer of the season and the 26th of his career for Finn, who was 2-for-4 in the game.

Junior pitcher Brent Wengert (Whitesboro) got the win, raising his record to 3-4 by shutting out Manhattan on just three hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out two.

Leadoff man Kevin Roberts (Notre Dame) stole his sixth base in the nightcap and he was 2-for-4 with a double to help Siena (8-18) win the opener, 7-4.

Sophomore Mark Taurisani (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) is the Fredonia State baseball team’s starting catcher this season. Taurisani and his Blue Devils will be in the Utica area on Saturday, April 21, to play a noon doubleheader against SUNY Utica/Rome at the Wildcats’ Marcy campus. A year ago, Taurisani’s eighth-inning single drove in the winning run in the opener of Fredonia’s doubleheader sweep.

Former Navy star outfielder Steve Mauro (Utica) from the Class of ’94 has been named to the Patriot League’s All-Decade Baseball Team.

Hamilton College junior Karen Pogonowski (West Canada Valley) is the second-leading hitter in the New England Small College Athletic Conference with a .452 batting average (19-for-42) through 14 games. She had a two-run double and was the winning pitcher in both of Hamilton’s two wins over Wesleyan on Sunday.