New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
The New Bedford Bay Sox, the Southcoast’s own Major League Baseball affiliated collegiate summer league team, have solidified their roster for the 2013 season. This year’s roster includes top-notch talent from big name schools including Notre Dame, Duke, West Virginia, Boston College, and Georgetown. Three players from the Southcoast region and several from the New England area round out a roster blending national talent from as far away as San Jose State. Locally, Adam Fournier and Frank Vilacha from Dartmouth, as well as Nick Friar from Westport will be suiting up for the Bay Sox this summer in Bristol County. Top to bottom, the 2013 Bay Sox roster features college level MLB hopefuls, looking to improve their skills playing summer ball against extremely competitive teams from across the New England region.
The Bay Sox are looking to build on a successful 2012 season in which the team made the New England College Baseball League (NECBL) playoffs. The hiring of former Boston Red Sox outfielder Rick Miller as the team’s manager was crucial to last season’s success. Miller was voted the NECBL manager of the year and will be returning for the 2013 season. Bay Sox president Pat O’Connor believes expanding the roster to include more players enrolled in highly regarded baseball programs from across the country will take the team to the next level. “It is our commitment throughout the Bay Sox organization to provide a premiere level baseball experience for our fans on the Southcoast year in and year out.” says O’Connor who bought the team in April of 2012. “We believe the region deserves a baseball franchise that fans can be excited to root for and proud to call their own.”
Westport native Mike Friar, who is the team’s director of baseball operations, worked diligently this offseason to bring the perfect blend of national and local talent to this year’s squad. He is confident the Bay Sox will be “…in a position to deliver a great baseball product to our fans and contend for an NECBL title.”
The season started off with a bang on Thursday night, as the Bay Sox beat the reigning NECBL champion Newport Gulls 8-7 on the road behind a solid start from left hander Remy Jenko of Duke University. The blend of national talent was on showcased at the plate as San Jose State’s Chris Travers and Boston College’s Chris Shaw each delivered two key RBI’s in the win. Rick Miller’s team put on an impressive display of fundamental baseball that fans can expect to see all season long from this group.
The team will be playing 22 home games this year, as well as an exhibition game against the Military All-Stars on June 19th. All home games will be played at 6:30 at Paul Walsh Field in New Bedford. Attendance is $5 at the gate for nine innings of great baseball and family friendly activities. The Bay Sox full 2013 roster and schedule are now available on the team website at www.nbbaysox.com.
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Very nice article about the team!
just to clarify, Matt Lopez is from San Jose State