Bates pitchers (from left to right) Connor Colombo, Rob DiFranco and Chris Ward are all making a mark in selective summer collegiate baseball leagues in 2015.
LEWISTON, Maine -- Most of the players who will return to the Bates College baseball team next season are currently competing in collegiate summer leagues, led by a trio of veteran pitchers who are standing out for their success thus far.
Seniors-to-be Connor Colombo (Mendon, Mass.), Rob DiFranco (Melrose, Mass.) and Chris Ward (Pasadena, Calif.) are all pitching with great effectiveness in top-tier collegiate leagues.
Colombo, who enjoyed the best season on Bates' pitching staff in 2015, going 4-1 with a 2.70 earned run average over 46 2/3 innings, has carried that success over into his play for the Valley Blue Sox of the wooden-bat New England Collegiate Baseball League, based in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Through three appearances as of July 2, the righthander and 2015-16 Bates team captain is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA over 9 2/3 innings.
DiFranco began his offseason in the legendary Cape Cod League, considered by many to be the best collegiate summer league in the country. The righthanded DiFranco, who was also named a 2015-16 team captain for Bates, was released after stints with both Chatham and Falmouth of the Cape Cod League before landing with the North Shore Navigators of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England, based in Lynn, Massachusetts. DiFranco is only the third player ever to play in three separate seasons for the Navigators, and was an FCBL All-Star in 2014. He has made three relief appearances so far this season, accumulating a 4.90 ERA over 3 2/3 innings.
Ward, meanwhile, has perhaps been the most impressive Bobcat this summer, mowing down batters in Virginia's Valley Baseball League as a member of the Woodstock River Bandits. After an up-and-down 2015 season with Bates, going 2-2 with a 5.19 ERA in 26 innings, the 6-foot-8 righthander has pitched in eight games so far for Woodstock, striking out 20 batters and allowing just four walks over 11 1/3 innings. Ward has earned a team-high two saves while maintaining a 2.38 ERA.
It all bodes well for a Bates pitching staff that aims to be one of the best in the New England Small College Athletic Conference next season. Joining Colombo, DiFranco and Ward will be a slew of young arms, including sophomore-to-be Connor Speed (San Diego, Calif.), who led the Bates staff in innings last season with 47, and junior-to-be Anthony Telesca (Holtsville, N.Y.), who missed the 2015 campaign with injury after an impressive rookie season in 2014 (3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 innings).
