KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

And shame on all of us for not giving this team the support it deserves.

It looks like Bill Reynolds wrote a nice article in this morning's ProJo on Jeff Roy of the URI Baseball team (who was recently named a preseason all american). The journal has not made the article available online, but the first part of it was posted on the "Rhody Baseball" facebook page earlier today.



I have been fortunate enough to see the Rams play a few times over the past couple years and am happy that Roy is getting this much deserved attention. He is the latest example of Jimmy Foster's ability to get the most out of his players (guys like Nick Greenwood, Zach Zaneski, Eric Smith, Tim Boyce, Dan Rhault and Stephen Peterson -- to name a few.)

Foster is running an incredible program at URI, yet the team's success and accomplishments are constantly overshadowed by the continuous underachievement and failure of URI's fully-funded, banner sports: football, men's/women's basketball. How are we not showing more support to this baseball team that, year in and year out, travels to take on the nation's top teams (#1 Florida State in 2012, #1 Florida in 2011, #1 Virginia in 2010, etc) and gets better because of it. Has any other URI team been more successful than the baseball Rams over the last ten or so years?

This is a program that is on the verge of doing big things on a big stage. The "baseball people" have obviously noticed, now its time for us as alumni and supporters of URI in general to get on board.

I agree, although I'm also guilty of not following the team as closely as I do basketball. Some of that is just the nature of baseball at the college level. When I was at URI, I worked a bit for Frank Leoni and the team was good even back then. I try to follow the team, but its hard on a day-to-day basis with the way the sport is covered.

Round up some money for a proper stadium and the fans will come in droves. Good team + likable players + nice stadium to catch a game = a sure winner.

Rhody4324 wrote:Round up some money for a proper stadium and the fans will come in droves. Good team + likable players + nice stadium to catch a game = a sure winner.

Eh. It's different with college baseball because you're missing a lot of excellent players. Unlike basketball and football, there aren't any artificial restrictions on players going pro, so you have a lot of elite talent that never plays college. Bryce Harper played a year of community college baseball, I think, but more of as a dodge of draft rules.

SGreenwell wrote:

Rhody4324 wrote:Round up some money for a proper stadium and the fans will come in droves. Good team + likable players + nice stadium to catch a game = a sure winner.

Eh. It's different with college baseball because you're missing a lot of excellent players. Unlike basketball and football, there aren't any artificial restrictions on players going pro, so you have a lot of elite talent that never plays college. Bryce Harper played a year of community college baseball, I think, but more of as a dodge of draft rules.

@Rhody4324 Meade Stadium isn't exactly a "proper stadium" yet they averaged 3-4,000 fans a game this season.... and they didn't even win a game! I do agree, though. URI needs to do more out at that baseball field. Its hard to believe that with the multimillion dollar upgrades they've done, stands for fans were never considered a "must have".

@SGreenwell To say that there isn't much support for baseball because there aren't a lot of "excellent" college baseball players doesn't make much sense either because, if I'm not mistaken, the URI baseball team has sent just as many players (likely, more than) into the pros over the last decade than any other team on that campus. And let's be honest with ourselves, the only truly "elite" talent that has come out of Rhode Island in recent years was Geoff Cameron of the soccer team. If we are only supporting teams with "next level" type players, the stands should be empty at virtually every home game, regardless of the sport.

That said, I've been just as guilty as the next person in that I tend to forget/ignore the non football/basketball programs, but I do feel that this is a program that's headed in the right direction. Look at Jimmy Foster's profile page. He's got more than a half dozen wins against Top 30 teams. When was the last time any other URI team turned in just one win over a ranked team? I ask this in complete seriousness, because I honestly do not know...

CTmfj wrote:

SGreenwell wrote:

Rhody4324 wrote:Round up some money for a proper stadium and the fans will come in droves. Good team + likable players + nice stadium to catch a game = a sure winner.

Eh. It's different with college baseball because you're missing a lot of excellent players. Unlike basketball and football, there aren't any artificial restrictions on players going pro, so you have a lot of elite talent that never plays college. Bryce Harper played a year of community college baseball, I think, but more of as a dodge of draft rules.

@Rhody4324 Meade Stadium isn't exactly a "proper stadium" yet they averaged 3-4,000 fans a game this season.... and they didn't even win a game! I do agree, though. URI needs to do more out at that baseball field. Its hard to believe that with the multimillion dollar upgrades they've done, stands for fans were never considered a "must have".

@SGreenwell To say that there isn't much support for baseball because there aren't a lot of "excellent" college baseball players doesn't make much sense either because, if I'm not mistaken, the URI baseball team has sent just as many players (likely, more than) into the pros over the last decade than any other team on that campus. And let's be honest with ourselves, the only truly "elite" talent that has come out of Rhode Island in recent years was Geoff Cameron of the soccer team. If we are only supporting teams with "next level" type players, the stands should be empty at virtually every home game, regardless of the sport.

That said, I've been just as guilty as the next person in that I tend to forget/ignore the non football/basketball programs, but I do feel that this is a program that's headed in the right direction. Look at Jimmy Foster's profile page. He's got more than a half dozen wins against Top 30 teams. When was the last time any other URI team turned in just one win over a ranked team? I ask this in complete seriousness, because I honestly do not know...

I'm saying that college baseball in general doesn't get its due because historically, most of the elite talent immediately goes pro. Unlike with basketball and football, NCAA college baseball isn't a glorified minor league - MLB actually has a refined and good development system, with (depending on the team) four to six levels. While a good portion of those players are college graduates or went to college before being drafted, a lot are just high school graduates, and that's roughly 3,200 to 4,800 players that are in the minor league system.

College baseball in the northeast has its own unique problems, most of them weather and facility-related.

And because I don't want to sound like a completely Negative Nancy, one other thought - Has URI ever looked into playing some games in Newport? I'm not sure what the Gulls' stadium is used for off-season, but it's not bad, and it's only a 20 to 30 minute drive from URI. I imagine the only issue would be the field's odd configuration, but they do play some sort of semi-professional / amateur baseball there.

SGreenwell wrote:
College baseball in the northeast has its own unique problems, most of them weather and facility-related.

Didn't Frank Keaney espouse making baseball a fall sport in New England?

Cardine's is used a lot.
Rogers plays there.
Sunset League, Npt Babe Ruth.
It is nice, but Rhody has the $1 M field.

There were plans to add stadium seats from dugout to dugout about 10 years ago. It was part of the referendum that didn't get passed, which included the Student athlete center.

Baseball schedule came out today. Non-conference schedule is beyond difficult. Foster definitely wants the team to play the best. FSU, Mississippi State etc, -- will be definitely ready for the a-10.

Cool. I hope there is decent online video coverage, or even a game on TV.

their first 8 games are against ranked teams

wow what a brutal schedule... starting 2-6 would be impressive

Looks like they got swept by FSU (understandably) with one game going into extra innings.

3 games at Ole Miss coming up this weekend.

I went to 6 or 7 home games as part of an internship my senior year (2010) and the team was very fun to watch. Sad to see that the only fans at the games were family and friends it seemed like, but this program is very respectable and they put a good product on the field consistently.

they were in all 3 games, the first game gave up a late grand slam that blew it open, the second game they lost because of a bad 7th inning (3 unearned runs) and yesterday was a walk off home run in extras. Overall a good showing for the team.

"URI is a very good baseball team. They are not average, they are very good and they are going to be very difficult in the very near future. I was very impressed with them." - Florida State head coach Mike Martin, after his team's 10th-inning, walk-off win over Rhode Island.

Baseball team beat #22 Notre Dame today. Nice win for the program.

if football goes south one or two seasons more.....build a rhody Fenway

The field is one of the best just not a lot stands around them

yea Honestly Im surprised that more stands havent been built. Even the middle school level aluminum ones would be better. Theres currently one set of bleachers and theres always people standing around the 1st and 3rd base lines. Personally ive attended more games and enjoyed them

Rhodymob05 wrote:if football goes south one or two seasons more.....build a rhody Fenway

Agreed. Cut the football program if no progress is made, and put the money into a sport who is consistently a winner and an on the rise program. If we could put that money towards baseball we could compete even better recruiting wise against teams like UCONN, BC, Northeastern etc.

7 game win streak now that they've started playing some lesser competition.

The Ocean State Waves play at Old Mountain Field and had a crowd of 1,152 for their first game ever.

Former Rhody pitcher Nick Greenwood retired former Chicago White Sox great Manny Ramirez twice tonight, pitching for Cardinal's AAA team.