Tyriq Harris ran hard down the first baseline, a career milestone in his sights.
It didn’t matter that Worcester State second baseman Kenan Kolanda stopped Harris’ ball from going into the outfield and was trying to rob Harris of a hit. Harris hustled and beat out Kolanda’s throw to first base.
Albertus Magnus’ bench erupted into cheers, and for good reason. Because of Harris’ all-out hustle, he had etched his name in the Falcon baseball record book with career hit No. 100. Harris, a senior and former Wilby standout, needed one hit going into the April 11 game at Worcester State, and he got it over with in his first at bat.
Harris has played in all 22 games for Albertus Magnus and is hitting .355 (22-of-62) with a .459 on-base percentage. He is tied with Wolcott’s Matt Warren for the team lead in triples with two. Harris has scored 18 runs and stolen five bases. He also has three doubles and five RBI.
Matt Warren, Albertus Magnus College baseball
Speaking of Warren, the former Wolcott standout was named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference honor roll.
Warren made it after hitting .333 with a .500 on-base percentage and .867 slugging percentage. Most of that came in the April 2 doubleheader against Norwich where he tripled twice, homered, doubled and drove in 10 runs. Warren also scored six runs in that doubleheader, three in each game.
Warren is leading the team — or is tied for the lead — in home runs (3) triples (2) and RBI (28).
Yaixsa Vargas, Springfield College softball
This former Kennedy standout is having a solid junior season with the Pride.
Vargas is hitting .368 (14-of-38) with two doubles, a home run, eight RBI, five runs scored and two stolen bases in 12 games. She had three hits in both games of an April 11 doubleheader at Wellesley College.
In an 8-7, 10-inning win in the first game, Vargas went 3-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI, run scored and a stolen base. Springfield won the second game, 5-3, to sweep the doubleheader, and Vargas was again 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
Vargas, an infielder, is majoring in psychology.
Matt Mancini, Western Connecticut State University baseball
The former Sacred Heart standout has been swinging a hot bat for the Colonials.
Mancini, a junior, has a hit in 16 of the 19 games he has played in this season. That includes three different three-hit games, along with five two-hit games. Mancini leads WCSU with 20 RBI and has had three games where he drove in three runs. He has had two games where he drove in two runs.
Mancini ranks first in hits (27), second in batting average (.391) and is tied for fourth in doubles (3).
Jennifer Fannon, American International College track and field
Ten thousand meters is a long way to run, but this graduate student and former Bristol Central standout takes the challenge head-on.
Fannon finished second in the 10,000m (40:20.63) during the ninth annual Yellow Jacket Invite on April 6. The 10,000m is not the only long race that Fannon runs. In late March, Fannon ran the 5,000m during the University of North Florida’s Spring Break Invitational. She finished the race in 18:44.55.
Fannon is majoring in physical therapy with a minor in psychology, according to her biography on the team website.
Statistics, headshot photos and information compiled from the team website of each athlete.
