A league of his own
Brownsville’s Chad Rice decicated to the game of baseball A little sacrifice, a lot of dedication and love for the game has put Brownsville’s Chad Rice in a league of his own.
Rice doesn’t spend his weekends going to football games, or the movies and parties with friends like most high school seniors. Instead, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Rice suits up and plays baseball with the Allegheny Pirates, an amateur fall league team sponsored by the Pittsburgh Pirates to showcase talented players to colleges and minor and major league teams.
The season lasts for eight weeks, with four to five games played every weekend, and runs through Nov. 27.
Rice and his father, Ralph Rice, spend their weekends together, travelling to places as far away as Norfolk, Va., and Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete against college and other showcase teams.
“It takes a commitment. He gave up all his weekends,” Ralph Rice said, adding that his son even missed homecoming this year and wasn’t able to go out for the football team as he had planned.
“I planned on playing football this year,” Chad Rice said. “I trained for it all summer, but when I had the opportunity to play baseball, I played baseball. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s my commitment.”
Besides sacrificing his social life during his senior year, Rice, an honor student who is also on the high school golf team, also sacrifices rest and relaxation time as well. Rice has a demanding schedule in school with calculus, business law and physics among his classes, and he remains just as dedicated to his academics as he does baseball to maintain a 3.84 grade point average.
Since his freshmen year, Rice has only received two B’s on his report cards.
In fact, it was Rice’s high academic standing along with his performance on the baseball field that landed him a middle infield position on the Allegheny Pirates.
“It’s a college showcase. A lot of college coaches watch these games. That’s why we’re going because it helps out with college for recruiting purposes,” Ralph Rice said. “You have to have the grades as well as the talent.”
But Ralph Rice said he feels it’s his son’s love of baseball that has taken him this far. Chad Rice said his high school baseball team has made the playoffs for four of the last five years and he expects them to make it again this year.
This past summer, Chad Rice participated in the Keystone Games in Wilkes-Barre and the Blue-Gray Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with Uniontown High School players, Gary King and Nathan Lewis this summer. He has been invited to play in another Blue-Gray Classic this month in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Athletes have to be nominated and then tryout to participate in the Blue-Gray Classic.
“It’s not so much his talent as how he loves the game,” Ralph Rice said. “He’s on the field three or four times a week during the off-season. He has a love for the game and that’s a big part of it. And he does have some talent, I’m not going to say he doesn’t, but he works hard at it too.”
Ralph Rice said during a stretch in 2001, Chad played 19 consecutive days between his Colt and American Legion teams. “I don’t think you do that if you don’t love the game, and he asks me for help, I don’t ask him,” Ralph Rice said.
In fact during the interview at his home, Chad Rice grew anxious to get out on the field with his dad. Pictures that decorated the living room wall made it obvious that all the Rice children – Phil, 30, Brad, 26 and Jill, 18 – were competitive in high school sports.
Chad Rice, who has played baseball since he was three years old, said he probably loves the game so much because he’s been exposed to it his whole life. The house where he grew up in is directly across the street from the Colonial 3 American Legion Baseball Field, where he has played many games. He grew up watching his older brothers playing, and his father, who is an assistant baseball coach at Brownsville and head coach of the Colonial 3 American Legion team, played baseball for a couple of years in college.
Ralph Rice has actually coached Chad for three years in both high school and on the legion teams.
Chad Rice thanks a lot of people for keeping him motivated and focused on his goals,” Rice said. He said friend and fellow teammate, Tony Marciante, a Connellsville senior, who was a member of the Allegheny Pirates since last year, recommended him to coach Fred Alberts.
“My friend (Marciante) told (Alberts) about me. I was surprised to be considered. When I saw him come watch me, I began working really hard. So when he called me, it wasn’t out of the blue, but I was happy.”
Rice said his high school gym teacher, Kerry Whitman, has been a big help with strength training and other things. He said his coaches, Scott “Scooter” Roebuck, Ken Musko and Bruce Rechichar, have also been an inspiration. According to Rice, the Colonial 3 Athletic Club has helped offset some of his traveling expenses with the Allegheny Pirates through fundraising headed by Nick Petrus.
“It’s great to know that I got someone there to help me. It definitely pushes me. I have reason to try to do good, knowing people are there watching me,” he said.
Rice said his family’s support means a lot to him too. He said his mother, Julie, and his brothers sometimes accompany him and his dad on trips, and when his team plays in cities where he has family, they always attend the game.
Rice said he is especially grateful to his father, who is just as committed to his responsibilities to his team as he is.
“He’s a big reason why I’m probably where I’m at now; he’s taken me to camps and showcases,” Chad Rice said. “You can’t just be good, people have to see you play; he makes sure they do.”
But Ralph Rice says it’s a privilege to support his son.
“I love it,” said Ralph Rice. “I don’t like to drive, but I love to sit in my lawn chair, watching my son play the game. It’s nice to sit and watch instead of coaching.”
Chad Rice said after the fall season ends, he will continue to focus on his education and look forward to the high school season to begin in the spring. He said he hopes to attend a college in the south, where it is warm, allowing for an extended baseball season. In college, he said he intends to study pre-law to become a lawyer, but said his ultimate goal is to become a professional baseball player.
“That’s my major goal, because becoming a professional ball player is a major accomplishment,” Chad Rice said. ” But I definitely want to concentrate on school too.”