Well, we had a tough week this past week, posting a 1-4 record. We started off getting some good midweek competition down south in Virginia, playing Radford University in Radford, VA on Monday and the William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA on Tuesday. Monday started out well as team battled for a hard fought win verses a good opponent in Radford and it seemed as if the bats were starting to come around. The entire team worked hard for the win and it was a true team effort. On Tuesday, we traveled to William and Mary where we faced the former URI coach Frank Leoni. He had a pretty good squad and they hit the ball well. We knew we had to jump on them early and we did by posting up 6 early runs. Unfortunately, we could not hold on to the lead and W & M came back to get us in the end.

We opened up conference play over the weekend by facing the Temple Owls from Philadelphia, PA. We hadn't seen Temple for a couple years because of scheduling so we were excited to come out and have a first good weekend. However, to our dismay, things did not turn out as planned. We struggled immediately in Game 1 and ended up loosing handily on a very windy Friday afternoon. Looking to get back on the winning track on Saturday, we again came up short and dropped that game as well. Sunday was a chance for us to salvage the weekend and come out with a win, but things did not turn out in our favor and the sweep was taken by the Owls. It was a terrible feeling after the weekend had finished.

In looking at the positives this weekend, there is a lot that can be said for the upcoming games. Once given the chance, a lot of our young guys stepped up and played well. It looks as though as our team continues to gel, the newer Rams are going to contribute a great deal to this team.

Also, many of our mistakes came from some fundamental and mechanical errors which will be corrected with a hard week of practice and some refocusing. Every good team is faced with adversity in some point during its season, maybe we are fortunate that - for us - it has come sooner rather than later. This will give us ample time to correct the mistakes that we are making and, with some hard practice and mid-week games, we should be ready for our upcoming weekend at Dayton!

- Mike

Week 6: March 10, 2008

Hey Rhody Fans,

This past weekend we participated in a round-robin tournament at the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. We went 2-1 on the weekend and had victories over Central Connecticut State (8-0) on Friday and Iona College (11-4) on Sunday. Saturday we played Navy in a tough 6-4 loss.

Our starting pitching continued to be solid as Brett Palanski and Nick Greenwood both got wins. The bats picked up right where they left off after Maryland Eastern Shore, as we recorded 39 hits over the three games, including a 17 hit explosion on Sunday.

It is great to be getting contributions from the top right through the bottom of the lineup as well as getting stellar performances out of the bullpen in finishing games. Good teams are built on pitching and defense and the success of our young pitchers is crucial to us reaching our goal of being 2008 Atlantic 10 Champions.

The freshmen have had three weekends under their belts now and they are making great strides and beginning to become much more comfortable. The underclassmen have played extremely well thus far and have grown a lot from the first weekend at Troy to this past weekend at Navy. The upperclassmen have continued to lead our ball club and set high standards for hard work and success.

Although we began the season with a slow start, we have evened up our record at 5-5 and are very excited to be taking on East Carolina University, a perennial Top 25 team, in a three game series in Greenville, North Carolina this weekend.

Since next week is our Spring Break, following our Sunday game at East Carolina we will play Radford University in Radford, Virginia on Monday. We will then travel to William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia on Tuesday to take on former URI head coach Frank Leoni. All of us seniors are looking forward to playing against our old coach from freshmen year!

We will then be back in Rhody for our three-game conference-opening series against Temple, March 21-23.

As always, we appreciate all the support of the alumni, fans, and our families. We look forward to seeing everyone at our home games this spring.

GO RHODY!

- Chris

Week 5: March 3, 2008

This past weekend at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore we took our most positive steps since the season has started towards becoming the team we know we have the potential to be. In a three-game sweep with two games against UMES and one against Pittsburgh we outscored our opponents 27-8 and all the hard work the hitters have put in throughout the fall season seems to be starting to pay off.

On the trip down to Maryland it was easy to see an extra sense of motivation in our players' eyes after a disappointing previous weekend at Troy University. Our team was eager to get back on the field and prove to both the University and to ourselves that last weekend was a fluke knowing we've worked extremely hard day in and day out in order to show that we can compete with anybody.

Our pitching staff had another solid weekend with great performances by both our starters and relievers. Throughout a season, one of the biggest reasons for a team winning or losing is the balance between their teams' hitting and pitching. Sometimes your team may be scoring run after run and the pitching staff just cant seem to get it done while other times the pitching staff is dominating and the hitters can't seem to score. The key to success is finding a balance between the two and I strongly believe our team is beginning to do so.

We are heading down to Maryland again this weekend to compete in the US Naval Academy Tournament. Our opponents are Central Connecticut, Navy, and Iona...

The team morale is high and, after a dominating performance this past weekend and another strong week of practice this week, I believe we will be ready to add three more W's to schedule.

Thank you for all your support and don't forget to check our website for news and updates on our team as we will keep you posted. The home opener is less than three weeks away and we look forward to seeing you there, until then....GO RAMS!

- Jamie

Week 4: February 25, 2008

This past weekend, we opened the season up at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. After a month hitting and throwing inside, we were anxious and ready to get outside and take on Troy. When we got there, everybody could feel the excitement. The upperclassmen were ready to go and the underclassmen were excited to see what college ball was all about. On Thursday, we had a great practice on their brand new turf field. It was nice to get outside and take some groundballs. We were definitely ready to go.

On Friday, it was rainy and miserable. Our game was at 6 pm, and it didn't stop raining until about the second inning. That didn't bother us though. We were excited to get our season going. We got out to an early lead 2-0 in the fourth inning when senior captain Zach Zaneski deposited a homerun into left field. Troy then answered back in the sixth inning to make it 2-1 and then exploded for six more runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Senior starter Brett Palanski pitched a great game for us giving up 0 earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. Sophomore Zoey Angulo added two hits.

On Saturday, we had a doubleheader starting at 1 pm. In game one, the Trojans jumped out to an early lead plating one run in the first inning. They got another big inning scoring five runs in the fourth and two more in the seventh. The Trojans won this game 9-0 dropping us to 0-2 on the season. Freshman Chris Pickering started the game in his college debut. He pitched a great game fooling the Trojan hitters with his changeup. Our defense collapsed in the big fourth inning, when they scored five runs. Rob Deveney recorded his first two hits as a Ram going 2-3 in the loss. Also, freshman Tom Coulombe recorded his first college hit with a laser to left field.

In game two of the doubleheader, the Trojans took the lead in the second inning on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. We answered back in the third inning when freshman Kenny Burns recorded his first collegiate hit smashing a double into right center field. He then stole third base and was plated on senior captain Mike O'Malley's sacrifice fly. Troy added three more runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth to seal a 6-1 victory. Sophomore reliever Mark Frasier pitched 2.1 scoreless innings getting out of the sixth inning jam and striking out three batters during his appearance.

In game four on Sunday, we lost a close game 3-1 to the Trojans. Nick Greenwood stole the show pitching an outstanding game for us. He struck out 10 batters in 6.2 innings of work fooling Trojan batters with his nasty changeup. He made so many of their hitters look foolish! We tied the game 1-1 in the fourth when junior Dan Rhault produced a bases loaded walk to plate sophomore Oliver Palmer. Troy then took the lead in the seventh and plated one more in the eighth. Dan Rhault and Oliver Palmer recorded our only two hits in game four.

This weekend was a true test for us. Our pitching did an outstanding job this weekend while our hitters have some things to figure out. Once we figure out how to produce runs for our pitchers, we are going to be a scary team in the A-10 this year. We are stacked with talent, leadership, and plenty of young players to make a run for the conference championship this year.

It was a rough weekend for us, but we learned a lot from it. It is always tough coming out of the gym and going down south to play a team who has been outside for three months already. I believe we battled well and I am very excited for this team as we continue our season. We travel to University of Maryland Eastern Shore next weekend for a three-game series. Wish us luck and Go Rams!

- Shaun

Week 3: February 18, 2008

Hey Rhody fans...

I hope all of you are as excited as we are about the start of the 2008 season. We leave early Thursday morning to take our first trip of the year down to Alabama for a four-game series against Troy University starting Friday night. At this point, the entire team is itching to get out of the gym and onto the field in some warmer weather, while the freshmen are looking forward to their first collegiate experience.

This past week of practice has been one of extra hours in the gym, working hard not only on the physical aspects of the game but also the mental. Whereas a few weeks ago, our practices were more individualized by position, this past week has brought the team together to work on and perfect both old and new defensive plays that have been implemented this season.

Repetition has been the theme of these practices. Our upperclassmen have been leading well by example, while the younger guys have been learning the ropes as to how things need to be done on the field. Pitchers are building up their pitch counts, fielders are fine tuning their swings, and everything seems to be coming together just in time to get this season started.

Although practicing inside a gym doesn't fully represent the conditions on an actual baseball field, there are many things that have to be simulated as close to what we'll encounter in an actual game situation -- I think as a team we're doing a great job at that right now and are showing a huge amount of focus on what needs to be accomplished.

Although our first home series is still weeks away, remember to check back for updates as our season gets underway, and don't forget that you can follow our games until then on Gametracker.

Get ready for an exciting season and GO RHODY!

- Brett

Week 2: February 11, 2008

What's up Rhody fans...

We've got the first week of practice under our belt and the team is starting to take shape. The first week is always the toughest because everyone is real busy starting classes and practice at the same time. All of the guys are just itchin' to get on the field too, which is only about a week and a half away. Everyone is looking forward to heading down to Troy, getting into some warm weather and playing some ball.

We are working hard to get back to the championship caliber baseball that we've been playing for the past 5-6 years. The first week of practice really demonstrated how much improvement the team has made since the fall and it showed the true talent we have. We are loaded with young, talented guys who are going to have opportunities to contribute to a team with strong upperclassmen experience. With just three weeks of total team practice time, we have been putting in some long days to prepare for our first series.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to thank to everyone who has supported the program through various functions and donations. We hope to make everyone proud with a strong season that starts in just 12 days!

- Mike

Week 1: February 4, 2008

Here we are, just starting team practice two days ago. As most of you know, there was a new rule passed this year that doesn't allow team practice to start until February 1st. So, the past few weeks we have had individual workouts, as well as pitcher and catcher workouts. But, there has been a great feeling throughout the locker room about our first team practice.

We have worked very hard this off season, and as a senior, I can honestly say that it has been the hardest, most rigorous off season workout program since I have been here. We had some nice surprises this fall - not only with some underclassmen but with some upperclassmen as well. A lot of the players have made great strides both physically and mentally, and are looking forward to the upcoming season.

Our first game is February 22nd, so with the start of the '08 season just around the corner, we're all filled with anticipation for a long and exciting season!

Go Rhody!

- Zach

• 2008 Schedule

• 2008 Roster

• 2008 Statistics

• 2008 Meet & Greet

• URI Baseball Newsletter

• Photo Galleries

• Bill Beck Field

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• Calling All Alumni

• Support URI Baseball

COACHING STAFF

• Head Coach: Jim Foster

• Assistant Coach: Steve Breitbach

• Assistant Coach: Eric Cirella

BASEBALL LINKS

• Atlantic 10 Baseball

• NCAA Baseball

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• International Baseball Federation