Previewing 2018 Rhode Island Baseball
Spring is rolling around and that means that it is time for baseball again. In other words, the 2018 season is here for the Rhode Island Rams.
The biggest strength of this team is the pitching staff that they are bringing to the table. Foremost, perennial MLB prospect, Tyler Wilson is returning to be the ace of the staff. The 2017 Preseason All-American is a clear candidate for numerous accolades in all of college basketball, including the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year award. Matt Murphy is a strong second starter that won the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week award three times last season. Next, Vitaly Jangols fills the role as Raphael Cerrato's third starter and that fact is a great luxury to have. Jangols was a freshman phenom on the mound in 2017. The right-hander from Bronx, NY was on the Atlantic 10-All Rookie team, the NEIBA All-New England Second team, and he was picked as a Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American. In addition to the three previously mentioned starters, they bring more veteran pitchers to the diamond, including Nick Johnson, Dom Grillo, Taso Stathopoulous, and their closer Tyler Barss.
A big question mark for the Rhode Island Rams during this season will be the consistency of their offensive production. With no more Chris Hess, Martin Figueroa, Mike Corin, and Matt O'Neil around, there is a huge amount of production to make up for. Luckily, senior Jordan Powell will be a reliable presence at the top of the batting order. Beyond Powell, there are quite a few question marks that exist. Rhode Island batters likes Sonny Uliana have the talent to perform at a top level but they need to do so on a consistent basis. Moreover, the lineup will have veterans like Mike Foley, Kevin Heiss, Laurence Hill, and Brett McManus that all need to hit better if they wish to be at the top of the Atlantic 10 again.
Last season, the Rams had a team fielding percentage of 96.8%, compared to their opponents' field percentage of 97.7%. If Rhode Island plans on returning to top of their conference, as well as contend on a national scale, they need to outperform their opponents in the fundamental aspects such as this one.
Every team in the nation, including #9 Texas A&M (their opening weekend opponent) has to respect how much the Rhode Island baseball team challenges themselves in the non-conference portion of their schedule each season. The way that Raphael Cerrato challenges his baseball club in non-conference games has shown to be an effective tactic to get his team ready for conference play.
In the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, they were picked to place third in the conference. While sitting on 146 voting points and two first place votes, they were just 11 voting points and four first place votes away from the amounts that the Saint Louis Billikens (picked to finish first) had. Right above the Rhode Island Rams were the VCU Rams, which had 153 voting points and three first place votes. In the 2018 Atlantic 10 baseball season, it could very well be a three-horse race between Saint Louis, VCU, and URI. Then, in fourth place in the poll was George Mason (107 voting points) and in fifth place was the story of Atlantic 10 baseball last season, the Davidson Wildcats (106 voting points and two first place votes).
The Rams are primed to surprise some people and capture the same Atlantic 10 title that they won just two seasons ago.
