Bridgewater State Baseball Team Getting the Most Out of the Life of Riley

At Age 27, Bears' Infielder Delivers

By Glen Farley, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team is benefiting from the life of Riley.

"Sean Riley plays with confidence," said Bears head coach Rick Smith, whose team was scheduled to face Wheaton this afternoon on the opening day of the NCAA Div. 3 New England Regional in Mansfield, Conn. "He gets up there and just defies you to throw the ball by him and is confident that he can adjust to all the pitches he sees.

"He got that from playing several years in the Cranberry League, several years with Bobby Wooster, with Peter Buffington. He's been playing with basically a Bridgewater State alumni team over at the Easton Huskies – Eddie Grueter, Matt Poitras, one of my assistant coaches, from the '97 and '96 World Series (teams at Bridgewater), Kevin O'Leary, Kevin Cadres, and Chris Welch."

The Cranberry League entry filled the baseball void in the life of Riley, the former Fairhaven High School shortstop, who, at the age of 27, seven years after he left Eckerd (where he played two seasons), returned to the college diamond at BSU.

In between stints on the diamond, Riley spent time working on the fish docks in New Bedford and in a pro shop at New Bedford Country Club. He also was the assistant pro at Ballymeade CC in Falmouth.

"I came home, took a semester off (from Eckerd), went to Franklin Pierce, but that didn't work out," said Riley, reflecting on the long and winding road that took him from St. Petersburg, Fla., to Bridgewater.

"I didn't really like school anymore, so I thought I'd go and try to work. I worked seasonal jobs for three or four years and I just decided a minimum-wage job wasn't for me so I decided to come back to school.

"I'd been talking to Coach Poitras about it probably for five or six years while I was playing with the Easton Huskies. It was whether or not I could get my grades together. So I went to Bristol Community College, got my grades together, and then came here for this season."

With that, a baseball dad was born.

"He's like my second father," cracked David Pierce, the Bears' first baseman from East Bridgewater.

"'Old Man' and 'Dad' and 'Pa,' he gets them all," said Smith. "But what these guys really like having him do is pick up the (gear) because as a rookie (that's part of his duties). He gets treated exactly like every other player on the team."

The junior second baseman has performed like no other player in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference this year, however, earning Player of the Year honors while leading the Bears to the MASCAC title.

The lefthanded-batting Riley is hitting at a .390 clip out of the leadoff spot, with eight home runs and 40 RBI in 43 games and has set school single-season records for doubles (Div. 3-leading 25), extra-base hits (39) and total bases (123) along the way.

"We compete," said Pierce, an all-conference selection who sports a batting average of .381, "but obviously, he's beaten me in most of the categories.

"He's just a good kid and another kid, who, when the situation gets tough, wants (to be involved). You can't teach that."

An operations management major, Riley is anxious for next May when he's due to receive his diploma as a 28-year-old senior.

"I just want that piece of paper in my hands," he said, "so I can decide what I want to do with my life."