Feb. 1, 2005

KINGSTON, R.I. - Bill Beck Field may be covered by snow, but that's not stopping the University of Rhode Island baseball team from preparing for the most anticipated season in school history.

The 2004 Atlantic 10 regular season champion Rams, who finished 35-20-1 and 20-4 in the conference, are picked to win the A10 and make their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2005 by Baseball America. Another national publication, Collegiate Baseball, has Rhody ranked No. 66 in the country.

"It's flattering to be chosen as the preseason No. 1 team in our conference, but all it really means is that we had a good season last year," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "Everybody starts out the season 0-0 and we're all trying to get to the Atlantic 10 Championship. Hopefully we have another successful season and get back to the conference finals."

Looking out the window of the URI baseball office at the snow-covered Bill Beck Field makes these preseason predictions even more amazing. Of the 65 schools picked ahead of Rhode Island only five (Washington, Notre Dame, Michigan, Minnesota and Creighton) are from above the Mason-Dixon Line and four of those schools boast a big-time revenue generating Division I-A football team.

The other 60 schools picked ahead of the Rams hail from Florida, Texas, Arizona and California among other warm-weather states, and don't have to confine their preseason practices to a gymnasium, where Rhody might spend a lot of time leading up to its season-opener at No. 22 Florida on Feb. 25.

The Rams are picked to win the Atlantic 10 East Division by the Atlantic 10 Coaches Poll, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. In Baseball America's mock NCAA bracket, the magazine has Rhode Island playing in a regional at Baylor with Baylor, Arkansas and Lamar.

Rhode Island returns all but one position starter from last year's team that went a school-record 35-20-1 and finished 20-4 in the Atlantic 10, becoming just the second team in A10 history to win 20 conference games in a season. Leoni has won the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in each of the past two seasons and became the school's all-time wins leader last season with 232 victories for his 12-year career.

The one player the Rams do not return is second-team All-American Dan Batz, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Rhody welcomes back third-team All-American Zack Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.), a left-handed pitcher who has earned plenty of national attention this off-season.

Zuercher, the transfer from the University of North Carolina who was an all-stater at Pilgrim High in Warwick, R.I., is projected as the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America and was one of only 58 players nationwide to be named to the Wallace Watch List for the National College Baseball Player of the Year. He also earned preseason second-team All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball and third-team All-American honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers.

As a sophomore last spring, Zuercher garnered third-team Louisville Slugger All-American honors and was named the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, along with earning first-team All-Atlantic 10, first-team All-New England and second-team All-Northeast honors. Zuercher was a finalist for the Roger Clemens Award for National Collegiate Pitcher of the Year after posting an 8-3 record, tying the school's single-season wins mark, and notching a 2.82 ERA.

In his first season in Kingston after transferring from North Carolina, he struck out 12.0 batters per nine innings, which ranked fifth in the nation, totaling a school-record 123 K's in 92.2 innings pitched. Zuercher posted double-digits in strikeouts in 10 of his 12 starts, and threw a school-record nine complete games with a school-record four shutouts.

Opponents hit a miniscule .176 against Zuercher, who threw a nine-inning no-hitter against St. Bonaventure on April 24, earning him National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball Insider and Baseball America, and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA.

Rhode Island returns all three conference starters with Zuercher, second-team all-conference selection Dan Frederick (7-3, 3.73 ERA, 79 Ks) and sophomore Stephen Holmes (5-1, 3.46 ERA, 85 Ks). Senior closer Mick Lefort, who set the school record with eight saves last season, returns to lead the bullpen.

Junior catcher Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) is the Rams top returning hitter, having batted .395 with 30 RBIs in 2004. Senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) returns after hitting .330 with 34 RBIs, 12 doubles and six home runs. Junior third baseman Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) and red-shirt junior second baseman Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) are two native Rhode Islanders who will hold down the field.

The Rams will look for their third-straight Atlantic 10 East Division crown, a second-straight Atlantic 10 regular season championship and will aim for a berth in the A10 finals again in 2005. But this year Rhody will look to take care of unfinished business by winning the Atlantic 10 crown and making the school's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.