FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– America East baseball conference play got underway last weekend between the raindrops, and a trio of players earned league honors to start off the second part of the season. Vermont sophomore shortstop Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass./St. Sebastian’s) proved valuable at the plate to earn Player of the Week recognition. Binghamton lefty pitcher James Giulietti (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-JFK), another sophomore, received Pitcher of the Week honors, and Albany freshman first baseman Mike Tirri (Lake George, N.Y./Lake George) was named Rookie of the Week.
In four games against defending America East Champion Stony Brook last weekend, Duffy hit .615 (8-for-13) with six runs scored, four walks, three doubles, three homers and 11 RBI. He also recorded a 1.538 slugging percentage and a .722 OBP. In Vermont’s 9-7 win in the second game of Saturday’s double-header, Duffy went 3-for-4 with four RBI. In Sunday’s nightcap, a 10 inning 21-20 decision in SBU’s favor, the sophomore Catamount went 4-for-4 with a walk, two doubles, two four-baggers and five RBI. His second homer of that game, his sixth of the year, was a grand slam. This is Duffy’s second Player of the Week award of the season.
Giulietti pitched six strong, scoreless innings against Hartford on Sunday, allowing just four hits, all singles. He walked just one batter faced and struck out three opponents, while compiling a 0.00 ERA and 1-0 record for the week. Giulietti lowered his season ERA to 3.20, third in the league among eligible pitchers, and improved to 2-1 in 25.1 innings pitched in 2009, while walking just two batters faced all season.
Tirri, the starting first baseman for the first-place Great Danes, recorded a .300 average over five games last week, driving in 12 runs in 20 at-bats. He tallied six hits, including two doubles and two home runs, posting a .700 slugging percentage. In addition to the runs he drove in, the rookie also scored six runs in Albany’s sweep of conference foe UMBC. In Sunday’s series finale, Tirri made the difference in the 10-7 victory with a three-run homer. Tirri, who didn’t commit an error all week, helped turn a double play in the ninth inning of the finale to seal the win.
