John Rooke’s Everything College Sports

Friday, May 20, 2011

John Rooke, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

The URI Rams baseball team played one of the nation’s top teams this week in Kingston. URI took on 15th ranked UConn Monday and lost, 4-1, at Bill Beck Field. Junior Mike LeBel hit his 23rd career homerun for the Rams, which ties him for the all-time lead at URI with Dan Batz (’04). Rhody is now 29-18 on the season, and plays at Dayton over the weekend. The Rams need at least two wins in three games to tie Charlotte for the Atlantic-10 regular season title…

Speaking of that nationally-ranked UConn team…one of the success stories for the Huskies this season has been the play of Warwick’s Tom Verdi. The former Hendricken stand-out is just a freshman, but has started 20 games, including the last nine in a row after an injury to the previous starter. He hasn’t committed an error in seven straight games, and went 1-for-4 at the plate against the Rams. UConn is poised claim the Big East regular season title this weekend in Cincinnati. North Providence freshman Anthony Aceto is also on the Huskies’ roster…

The Rhode Island College baseball team is in the NCAA Division III tournament this week. The Anchormen won the Little East Conference tournament championship last weekend by defeating top-seeded Eastern Connecticut 7-5, at Eastern’s home field in Mansfield, CT. Senior designated hitter/pitcher Gary Levesque (East Providence) was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and also was selected to the all-Little East first team with junior shortstop Kyle Allaire (Uxbridge, MA). Wednesday, the Anchormen opened up the NCAA Regional tournament by beating MIT 12-2 in Harwich, MA, but lost in the 2nd round to Bridgewater State 8-5 Thursday. As the fifth-seed, RIC (22-19) is still alive in the double elimination event, playing again Friday morning against Wheaton, and you can follow the Anchormen on d3baseball.com…

Another dose of good news from the Rhode Island College campus this week, with the announcement on Wednesday that the school will reinstate the varsity women’s gymnastics team for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years. The program’s status will be re-evaluated after 2013…and the women’s softball team wrapped up a successful season with a 38-13 record, losing the Little East championship game and the NCAA Regional tournament championship to Eastern Connecticut. The Anchorwomen completed the year among the Top 16 teams nationally in Division III…

URI basketball made it official this week on two new hoop recruits, with the signings of Rayvon Harris and Dominique McKoy. The 6-7 McKoy is the latest addition to the program – from Atlanta, he averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds per game last year for South Atlanta High School. McKoy and fellow Ram newcomer Andre Malone (transfer from Auburn) attended the same high school, and both played AAU ball for the Atlanta Celtics…

URI’s men’s track team finished third last weekend at the New England Championships, held at Southern Connecticut State University. Sophomore Trent Baltzell won the high jump at 6-10 ¾”, after winning the Atlantic-10 high jump championship…

Brown’s athletic teams excelled once again in the recent NCAA Academic Progress Report, with 22 sports earning Public Recognition awards – second best among all NCAA Division I schools. Women’s Crew reached the NCAA Championships for the 15th consecutive year, and will travel to Sacramento, CA for the title races on May 27-29…

At Providence College, basketball changes have begun under new head coach Ed Cooley, as the school announced the release of sophomore guard Duke Mondy from the team on Thursday…also Thursday, it was announced the team will play in the 2011 Big East-SEC Challenge, with a road game at South Carolina on Dec. 1. The entire Challenge schedule can be found here - http://es.pn/jC4lhl...lacrosse alumnus Sean Horrigan (’91) made a generous gift of $50,000 to endow PC’s Lacrosse Alumni Student-Athlete scholarship fund. Horrigan was the captain of the ’91 team and had one of the top single game performances in Friar history, scoring five goals with an assist against Georgetown…senior softball infielder Justine Stratton was named to the all-Big East championship tournament team, after hitting a homerun against Notre Dame (she had 10 on the season)…

Bryant’s baseball team finished up the regular season in style, sweeping Fairleigh Dickinson last week to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference (30-23 overall). The Bulldogs have now won at least 30 games in a season for five straight years…the women’s volleyball team has added former RIC and East Providence High School coach Luis Carvalho to its’ coaching staff for 2011…

The Bryant athletic department also announced the addition of seven new members into their Athletics Hall of Fame for 2011. The five-member Class of 2011 features Mike Williams (men’s basketball ’04), Heidi Chirigotis (field hockey ’04), Jon Yuengling (men’s lacrosse ’04), Mark Verille (men’s soccer ’87) and Max Good (men’s basketball coach, 2001-08). The inductions will be held in November…

CCRI had two participants in the NJCAA Division III Men’s Tennis National Tournament, being held in Allen, TX. North Providence’s Michael Fallone and Lincoln’s Nicholas Arnold both fell in singles’ play, but Fallone advanced to win the back draw (consolation) national championship…and the two teamed up in doubles as well, dropping a straight set decision to the tournament top-seeds after advancing to the second round…

The Johnson & Wales athletic department was awarded the 2010-11 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Commissioner's Cup for both men's and women's sports. It marks the third straight season the Wildcats have won the honor on the men's side and the first ever for the women. It’s also the first time in the history of the award that the same school has won both men’s and women’s award in the same year…

Roger Williams’ men’s tennis team reached the second round of the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament in Amherst, MA, beating UMass-Dartmouth in the opening round before falling to Amherst College. Jeff DeNunzio of Barrington played at #1 doubles for the Hawks, who finished the season at 18-7 overall…senior Shannon O’Keefe competed at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships in Lexington, KY, and took national honorable mention for her performance. More than 8600 riders compete in the IHSA, with more than 400 competing at the nationals…

(Note: During the basketball season, this feature will be heavily weighted toward the hardwood. And while there will be hoop news and events to mention in the off-season, we’ll include other schools, sports and events here as well. Send your college athletics-related info to [email protected], and follow John on Twitter @jrooke0722).

Photo of URI Baseball courtesy of GoRhody.com

Photo of RIC Team picture courtesy of GoAnchormen.com