Snow was falling, though Sunday afternoon it wasn’t yet sticking to the roads. Temps were in the mid-30s.

The AFC Championship Game was moving along. Football, we know, is usually king.

But yesterday, baseball was in the air at Rivier University. Yeah, let’s play two.

The Raiders, in their second year under coach Jimmy Smith, were reporting for duty. It was the progam’s annual media day, photos taken, equipment was being handed out, etc.

Welcome to the world of New England collegiate baseball. The calendar may say cold, snow, ice, etc., but for the Riv Kids and teams around New England, it’s already spring.

Gotta love it. And these players do.

“Honestly if you love the game it’s not too bad,” Raider captain Jacob Boudreau said. “It’s definitely a grind. Enjoying the game helps.”

Even in 30 degree outdoor practices, which the Raiders have on their turfed Joanne Merrill Field atop the hill above campus?

“You know, as soon as you walk up there it’s defintely ‘Ooooo it’s pretty cold,” Boudreau said. “But once we start practicing, getting into stuff, and focusing on what we’re supposed to be focusing on that day, you don’t really feel it. You get warmed up pretty quick.”

Yikes, let’s hope so. Most New England teams start their seasons with a warm weather trip during spring break. But Sunday, in the dead of winter, there was nothing warm except the feel inside the lobby and a classroom of Rivier’s fairly new science building, where the equipment bags, etc. were all there on desks to be handed out to a roster of 40-plus players.

It was up to Smith and his staff to find the players who really, really, really love the game, and think about it, well, year round.

“The biggest way to identify that is to watch them play,” Smith said. “It really sticks out, the kids who are flying around, playing the game the right way, and those are the kids we want in this program.”

Smith says it’s easier than you think to have his players all in by the end of January.

“It’s not as tricky as you think, because these guys love baseball,” he said. “It’s what they love to do. They don’t want to be doing anything else.”

Smith has a team that had a good academic showing the first semester, but he knows that the game of baseball and, for a lot of college students, athletics “are their outlet.” He should know, because he played the game at the collegiate level in New England. He knows it’s not easy. The fall program helps, couple days a week of practices and then a few weekends of scrimmages. It sets the mood, springboards into the winter, especially mentally.

But now the preseason of 2024 is here. The team will hit at a nearby facility in northern Massachusetts, and practice on the rectangular Merrill Field (which is plowed) that it shares with the lacrosse and softball teams. Players were on their own to work out in the weeks leading up to Sunday.

Equipment, uniforms, etc. awaited the Rivier baseball players on Sunday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“It’s tough in New England, where they just can’t go outside and play catch,” Smith said. “They need to find space, need to find a way and be creative. Not make excuses, and not take no for an answer. Typically, those kids who are stubborn and not taking know for an answer, are the kids who develop at a much faster rate.”

There are a couple of Raiders who are here from Virginia, and playing baseball up north can’t be a great selling point.

“I think the best way to do it is for us, we’re lucky we’re kind of rebuilding the program,” Raider assistant and recruiter Chris Shanahan said, inferring kids will get an opportunity to play right away.

There is the southern trip to start the season, be it Florida or, where the Raiders are going, Myrtle Beach, but then it’s back to the cold of mid-March and the hope of getting games in. Somehow, every year, they and all the other New England teams do.

Forget the snow. Forget the cold. Forget the big football games.

“We’re all just pumped to get our gear,” Raider senior infielder Frank Gulezian said. “Right now, football doesn’t matter.”

Yup. Sunday, in the Raiders’ minds, was a beautiful day for baseball. Let’s play two.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X (formerly twitter) @Telegraph _TomK.

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