BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Bridgewater State University head baseball coach, Rick Smith, will be honored at Saturday's doubleheader with Framingham State University.
There will be a special presentation between games of the MASCAC twinbill at Alumni Park. Game one is slated to get underway at noon.
Smith, who will be retiring following his 25th season at the helm of the BSU baseball program, has compiled an overall record of 549-369-5 (.598) to date as he is the winningest coach in Bridgewater State history. Smith has guided the Bears to ten NCAA Division III Tournament appearance including back-to-back World Series appearances in 1996 and 1997. The 1996 team set the program record for wins in a season (31) and finished third at the World Series.
A 2011 inductee into the BSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Smith entered the 2018 season ranked 38th among all active NCAA Division III baseball coaches in career wins.
During his first 24 seasons as the Bears' skipper, the baseball program has captured ten Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season titles (1996-98, 2000-01, 2003-06, 2012) and five conference tournament championships (2001, 2003-04, 2011-12).
Smith was named the ABCA Division III New England Coach of the Year in 1996 and again in 2000. He is also a three-time recipient of the MASCAC Coach of the Year award (1998, 2000, 2012).
Seven different players garnered ABCA All-America honors since Smith took over the baseball coaching reins at Bridgewater State in 1994. Pitchers Mike Marini (1998) and Kevin Cadres (2001) both earned the distinction as well as pitcher/first baseman Kevin O'Leary (1996), shortstop Chad Cambra (2003), left fielder Steve Smith (2005) and second baseman Sean Riley (2012). Cadres and Smith along with pitcher Fred Martin are members of the BSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Under Smith's guidance, 16 different Bears have been selected to play in the annual NEIBA College All-Star including Marini (1998), Cadres (2000, 2001), Cambra (2003), Smith (2008) and Riley (2013), as well as Jim Martorana (1994), Chris Quirk (1994), Kevin O'Leary (1996), Mike McMahon (1997), Matt Poitras (1997), Justin Twieraga (1999), Jeff Cloonan (1999), Jeremy Winters (2003), Joe Harkins (2004), Brad Koneski (2009) and Corey Batista (2012).