April 18, 2006

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Big Red baseball team had a pair of players honored by the Ivy League after helping Cornell leap into second place in the Gehrig Division standings after taking three-of-four games from penn this past weekend in Philadelphia. Sophomore Brian Kaufman translated a monster weekend into an Ivy League Player of the Week honor, while freshman Domenic DiRicco was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week.

The two outfielders spearheaded an offense that generated 56 runs in the four games against the Quakers. As a team, Cornell hit .413, pounding out 64 total hits, and reached base nearly 50 percent of the time.

Kaufman had one of the most amazing weeks in school history, hitting .538(14-of-26) with four doubles, six triples and three home runs in six games for the Big Red. He drove in 19 runs, 10 more than he had in the team's first 24 games of the year, scored 13 times, slugged 1.500 and reached base at a .600 clip. In four games against Ivy foe Penn, Kaufman drove in 18 runs, scored 12 times and had 11 extra-base hits (three doubles, five triples, three home runs) as Cornell won three-of-four to jump into second-place in the Gehrig Division. The sophomore had at least two hits in each of his final five games on the week, driving in six runs in the nightcaps of both games against Penn.

After going 2-for-4 with a double and a triple against LeMoyne in a midweek contest, Kaufman was 3-for-4 with two triples and four RBI in the opener of the Ivy series. In game two, he went 4-for-7 with two doubles, a triple and a home run. He drove in six and scored four times in the 23-10 win. On Easter Sunday, Kaufman was 2-for-4 with a triple and a home run in the opener, then went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and a grand slam, driving in six and scoring four times. He also walked twice in the game. To top it off, Kaufman handled all 13 chances flawlessly in the outfield. Kaufman has hit a triple in five straight games and has homered in each of his last three contests. For the season, the All-Ivy candidate is batting .333 and leads the team in hits (33), runs scored (34), triples (6), home runs (5), RBI (28), walks (24), stolen bases (6), slugging percentage (.673) and on-base percentage (.465).

DiRicco hit .529 (9-of-17) in four starts last week, collecting a pair of doubles, driving in six runs and scoring five times. He reached base 56 percent of the time while slugging .647. The freshman ended the week with three straight multi-hit games, including one of the great single-game efforts in school history. DiRicco tied a Cornell record with five hits, going 5-for-6 with a double, three RBI and three runs scored in Saturday's 23-10 win over Penn. He was also hit by a pitch to reach base in six of seven plate appearances. The Big Red's Easter Sunday split with the Quakers saw DiRicco go 4-for-9 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored. For the season, DiRicco is batting .275 with four doubles and 15 RBI.

The Big Red baseball team returns to action for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 19 at LeMoyne beginning at 2:30 p.m. in Syracuse.