Baseball Opens 2012 with Three Games at William & Mary

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rhode Island (0-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	1
William & Mary (1-0)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	X	2	5	1
@ Williamsburg, Va. | Plumeri Park

Pitching
Win: Koehler, Brett (1-0) - William & Mary
Loss: Chris Pickering (0-1) - Rhode Island
Save: Farrell, John (1) - William & Mary

Rhode Island Batting
2B: none
3B: none
HR: none

William & Mary Batting
2B: Bower, Tadd; Katz, Michael
3B: none
HR: none

full stats

The Rhode Island baseball team opens its 2012 season this afternoon with the first of three games at William & Mary. The Rams will face the Tribe at 4 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

W&M will provide live stats for all three games, as well as live audio on Friday and Saturday.

The Series
Rhode Island holds a slight 3-2 advantage in the all-time series vs. William & Mary, splitting a two-game set with the Tribe back in 2010. All five games between the teams have been played in Williamsburg.

The Pitching Matchups

Game 1 - Friday, Feb. 17 - 4 p.m.
Rhode Island - LHP Chris Pickering
William & Mary - RHP Brett Koehler

Game 2 - Saturday, Feb. 18 - 2 p.m.
Rhode Island - RHP Kevin Lee
William & Mary - LHP Matt Wainman

Game 3 - Sunday, Feb. 19 - 1 p.m.
Rhode Island - LHP Anthony Pisani
William & Mary - LHP Jason Inghram

Scouting the Rams
Rhody - which returns six position starters and 11 pitchers - was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 this season.

The Rams are led by senior Mike LeBel, who Baseball America recently tabbed one of the Atlantic 10's Top-5 MLB Draft Prospects. LeBel enters his senior season having appeared - and started - in 163 of the team's 168 games over the past three years. He is a career .312 hitter with 201 hits, 153 runs, 36 doubles, 24 home runs, 111 RBI, 60 stolen bases and a .514 slugging percentage. After just three years at URI, he owns the career home runs (24) record and is on pace to set new all-time records in runs, total bases, extra base hits and assists. 

Rhody also welcomes back three of its top four offensive performers from a year ago in redshirt senior Jeff Cammans (.349 AVG, 68 hits, 47 runs, 30 RBI, 22 stolen bases), sophomore Jeff Roy (.345 AVG, 50 hits, 35 runs, 12 extra base hits) and redshirt senior Greg Annarummo (.341 AVG, 59 hits, 34 runs, 34 RBI, 17 extra base hits).

Senior left handed pitchers Chris Pickering and Anthony Pisani will return to the mound for the Rams in 2012. Pickering was also listed among the conference's Top-5 MLB Draft Prospects while Pisani posted a 4-2 record in eight starts last season.

Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary - which is coached by former Rhody head coach and URI grad Frank Leoni ('90) - returns 12 position players and 13 pitchers from a year ago. CAA Preseason All-Conference selection Brett Koehler leads a pitching staff that combined for a 4.43 ERA last season while Tadd Bower returns as the club's top offensive player having batted .315 with 62 hits, 40 RBI and 30 runs last season.