July 9, 2009

Bronx, N.Y. - Former Fordham baseball catcher John Mollicone has been settling into his third year in professional baseball quite nicely as the Rhode Island native has been named the South Atlantic Player of the Week for the week spanning June 29-July 5.

"I am very happy for John," remarked Fordham baseball head coach Nick Restaino. "Its nice to see him performing at such a high level. He has prepared for the opportunity and we are all glad to see he is making the most of it."

Mollicone had a bit of a sluggish start to the 2009 season with the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. He was hitting only .218 with four doubles and nine walks and just one home run earlier in the year. Since then, Mollicone has increased his batting average to a team-high .289 with six doubles, four home runs and 15 RBI.

His first-career South Atlantic League weekly award comes off of a 9-18 (.500) performance at the dish with two doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and five runs scored. Those efforts helped lead the Hot Rods to four-game sweep over the Rome Braves.

This is not the first former Fordham baseball player that was named the top performer in his respective league. Mollicone's classmate, Cory Riordan, was named the California League Pitcher of the Week in June. Rirodan, with the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, is also having a successful year thus far as he leads the Modesto Nuts in innings pitched.t