RCC starts baseball season with strong team

With the 2013 season beginning, Rappahannock Community College’s men’s baseball program fields 19 players who have come from all over the state, and beyond, to join the college’s renowned team. The Gulls’ spring lineup includes Xavier Barriere of Miami, Florida; Brady Batterfield, Norfolk; Christopher Beacorn, Stafford County; Marcus Bumbrey, Fredericksburg; Ricky Castro, city of Richmond; Christopher Carter, Caroline County; Greg Fleming, Kyle Rodriguez, and Jeremy Sandifer, all of Virginia Beach; Thomas Gill, Williamsburg; Deon Hammond, Essex County; Chris Lewis, Glen Allen; Tyler Lloyd, Louisa County; Josh Mason, Austin Owens, and Kellyn Simons, all of Chesapeake; Jonathan Munn, Mechanicsville; Tyler Ross, Ashland; and Jacob Stephens, Halifax County. Head coach Jack Moore is ably supported by assistant coach Mickey Robertson, whose daughter Erin is the team manager.

The RCC program aims to produce well-rounded scholar-athletes. Many of these young men plan to earn bachelor’s or master’s degrees; as well as several who aspire to sports-related careers, they hope to enter such professions as real estate, architecture, engineering, dentistry, or retail sales. They cite such varied interests as drawing, reading, music, hunting, fishing, video games, weightlifting, and a number of other sports in addition to baseball.

The Gulls’ home games will be held on the Rappahannock High School field in Warsaw. On February 16, RCC will play Rockingham Community College; on February 17, College of The Albemarle; on February 19, Harford Community College; on March 3, Pitt Community College; on March 9, College of Southern Maryland; on March 10, Montgomery College; on March 15, Garrett College; on March 16 and 17, Macomb Community College; on March 24, Frederick Community College; on March 27, Potomac State College (2 p.m.); on March 29, Fulton-Montgomery Community College (5 p.m.); on April 3, Patrick Henry Community College (4 p.m.); on April 6, Allegany College of Maryland (2 p.m.); on April 10, Louisburg College (5 p.m.); and on April 21, Lackawanna College (2 p.m.). On all of these dates, two seven-inning games will be played, with the exception of the event on April 10, which will be one nine-inning game. All the games will start at 1 p.m., except where otherwise noted.

In away games, RCC will play Rockingham Community College on February 9, in Wentworth, North Carolina; Patrick Henry Community College on February 10, in Martinsville; the Newport News Apprentice School on February 28, in Hampton; Pitt Community College on March 2, in Greenville, North Carolina; Montgomery College on March 12, in Germantown, Maryland; College of Southern Maryland on March 19, in La Plata, Maryland; the Community College of Baltimore County (Catonsville) on March 23, in Catonsville, Maryland; the Community College of Baltimore County (Essex) on March 28, in Baltimore, Maryland; Potomac State College on April 12, in Keyser, West Virginia; the Community College of Baltimore County (Dundalk) on April 18, in Baltimore, Maryland; the Newport News Apprentice School on April 24, in Hampton; Louisburg College on April 27, in Louisburg, North Carolina; and Cecil College on April 30 in North East, Maryland.

For more information on the RCC Gulls or their schedule, please visit http://www.rappahannock.edu/studentservices/student-activities/rcc-gulls-baseball/; also, RCC student activities director Dean Taylor can be reached at 804-333-6734, or at dtaylor@rappahannock.edu.