Hobart first-year shortstop
Jack O'Neil earned his third Liberty League Rookie of the Week award this season after hitting .429 in three games last week. Teammates senior
Aaron Forgues and sophomore
Jack Farnen were also recognized by the league with a spot on the weekly honor roll.
The Statesmen improved to 22-7 with road wins over Fredonia 25-0, Elmira 14-0 and Wilkes 6-5 last week. Hobart will make its McDonough Park debut Tuesday, April 14 when the Statesmen host Keuka (9-15) at 6 p.m. The non-conference game was originally scheduled to be played in Keuka Park, but the decision to move the game to Geneva was made this afternoon.
Last week, O'Neil was 6-for-14 at the plate, stole two bases, drove in four runs and scored four times. Against the Blue Devils, O'Neil was 1-for-4 with an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Against the Soaring Eagles, he enjoyed his best day at the dish, going 3-for-5 with an RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored. O'Neil wrapped up the week going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored at Wilkes. His second inning single drove in two runs and gave the Statesmen a 5-0 lead. O'Neil singled again in the fifth and came around to score what proved to be the winning run.
O'Neil has started all 26 games he's played this season. He's batting .368 with a .455 on-base percentage. O'Neil has 35 hits, including five doubles, a triple and a home run. He leads the team with 16 stolen bases and is tied for the team lead with 31 runs.
Forgues only allowed three hits in five scoreless innings of work, earning the win over Elmira. He struck out four Soaring Eagles and walked only one. Forgues allowed a first inning single, but erased the runner by inducing a groundball double play. He also allowed a single in the second, but picked that runner off first.
Forgues has appeared in seven games this season (six starts) after missing all of last season due to injury. He's 1-2 with 26 strikeouts in 24 innings.
Farnen hit a team-leading .625 last week with a triple, five walks, five RBIs, four stolen bases and six runs scored. At Fredonia, he drew three walks, stole a base and scored twice. Against Elmira, Farnen went 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk, three RBIs, a stolen base and three runs scored. At Wilkes, he was 2-for-3 with a walk, two RBIs, two stolen bases and a run scored. His two-run single against the Colonels gave the Statesmen a 3-0 lead in the second. Farnen came around to score that inning, further padding Hobart's lead.
Farnen is batting a team-leading .383 with four doubles, two triples, nine stolen bases, 15 RBIs and 20 runs scored.
