Ricci joining other locals at Johns Hopkins
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- December
- 16
Westchester already has a strong presence at Johns Hopkins, one of the top Division III baseball programs (and overall universities) in the country. That presence just got stronger, as John Jay senior Lou Ricci has been accepted at the school and will join the program next year.
Ricci, a pitcher/first baseman/outfielder, received some Division I interest but preferred to play further south because of the weather. That, combined with the strong academics at one of the best schools on the East Coast, made Johns Hopkins a perfect fit.
Ricci is an AP/honors student with an A average who plays three sports (baseball, football and hockey). He missed the end of the football season to have his knee scoped, a procedure to repair torn cartilage that hindered him at the end of the baseball season last spring.
Hopkins advanced to the D-III national championship game last season but lost in the bottom of the ninth inning to Trinity College. The year before head coach Bob Babb led his team from behind to win the Centennial Conference championship.
Two members of the Blue Jays’ pitching staff last season were LoHud products Ryan Kealy (Ardsley) and Greg Gotimer (John Jay). They both were seniors, but this coming season Hopkins will add Pelham’s Matt Volpe and Zach Small.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pm by Josh Thomson. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in
March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of
2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has
since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting,
Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his
fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning
fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and
insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh
graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University,
where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in
history. 
Jake Thomases has covered baseball, hockey, girls basketball, and girls soccer for the Journal News since arriving in 2003. He previously interned at The Poughkeepsie Journal while attending Vassar College. He is socking money away under his mattress to buy the Knicks, at which time he will trade Jerome James to Cleveland for a ham sandwich.
lmao this is a joke right, there’s now way he is playing ball there
Congrats Louis! Glad to hear it’s official. Perfect fit.
Sounds like someones jealous. How can’t you be happy for LouLou. He’s one of the smartest and funniest kids I know. Must have punked you with that nasty deuce. Not only can he pitch he was one of the most consistent hitters on our team. Congrats dude!
Batting GP Avg PA AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB HBP OBP SLG
Season Totals: 19 .432 39 37 11 16 10 2 1 0 2 0 .462 .541
I dont know HS guy… 10 triples, 16 doubles, only 1 walk? those stats are definitely not accurate at all.
Congratulations That’s a great school and a great accomplishment. Your hard work on the field and in the classroom has paid off. Makes it all worthwhile doesn’t it? Good luck down there.
Are there any high school basketball sites like this?
The kid is going to Hopkins because he is a good student not because he’s a good baseball player. He’s marginal at best but he’s going to a great school. Not taking anything away from what the kid has done in the classroom.
Why not a big write-up like this for the kids from Pelham? They were impact guys and they’re headed to Hopkins too.
There was also a catcher from Somers who is now in professional baseball who played at Hopkins a few years ago. Seems like a good Westchester connection but ya gotta have he grades.
That’s a clueless remark. Probably the same idiot changing his name. Why so jealous? Where you going?
He’s doing the right thing,he’s going to get a great education. Its better than going to these schools that no one ever heard of just for baseball. When baseballs over he’ll have a nice life with a diploma thats worth something.
Couldn’t agree more Observer. Also, even with good grades it’s very difficult to get into that school without the coach pulling for you. There are kids from all over the world applying there with perfect and near perfect transcripts.
that was the point. He’s a nice boy and a very good student. He should be commended for that. He isn’t going there for baseball. He is OK. That doesn’t take away the quality of education nor his academic acomplishment. He is not getting a baseball scholarship.
Observer: he is going to a named school for education not for baseball. he is also paying his freight to go. He’s from Jay so I’m sure his family is OK financially and could have sent him anywhere. KUDOS to them.
All the kids through out this thread where kids who are getting D1 & D2 MONEY to play baseball and get an EDUCATION. wake up. It works for all. Your name is observer, pay attention. It’s great that all these kids will be in college getting a degree whether you know the name of the school or not.
Don’t you people know that this blog is run by and for the people at JAY.
That’s probably because it is one of the best schools in new york state, academically and athletically… maybe it should be run by and for JAY.
To the guy who keeps posting under different names: Hopefully you are a kid because you know very little about education. Depending on what you want to do in life the school you go to matters A LOT. If you have the grades and the ambition to go to an Ivy, Hopkins, Stanford, MIT etc it will open all kinds of doors for you in corporate America and Grad School. You speak about kids on this string getting money to play baseball. You got kids on here going to art schools and local D2 schools. If they need the money then it works for them. I’ll bet the majority of them are getting much more financial aid than scholarship. And it’s a vicious cycle. Chances are their kids will need money to go to school too and may have to settle for a lesser school because of it and the cycle continues.
I got news for you, NO ONE on here is going to MLB so get the best education you can and take the money if you can get it or if you need it. The two kids going to BC and Williams have the right idea. One is probably getting some money the other is not. Perhaps he could have gotten more money someplace else but if baseball doesn’t work out he’s still at a good school. How about you? Where did you go/play? You’re on here knocking kids are you an expert?
I do not know what d2 schools give money for baseball. D1 schools do not give as much money as you think. Maybe a partial for $8000 dollars. Every coach will tell you don’t come here just for baseball. You can get cut the following year or get injured then you’re stuck at a school you didn’t really like in the first place. N.Y. state schools are cheap and you get a great education. They are getting harder to get into. HSBASEBALLFAN the other guy dosn’t get it.
Good point observer
I’m Louis’s father. Someone appears to be using the name I used on here last year so I’ll just be myself and attempt to clarify a few things.
First, the reason Josh is reporting this is because I notified him once we got the official confirmation just as he asked us all to do. “If you, your son or your player will play college ball and isn?t on the list, or you (or he) is on the list but has made a decision, shoot me an e-mail at jthomson@lohud.com” If the other kids who went to JHU did not notify him at the time what can I do?
Second, Louis is absolutely going to JHU for the academics first and foremost. That was always our first priority. However, to suggest that he is not going there for baseball or because of baseball in wrong. Even though he has very good grades and test scores there are plenty of kids throughout the world with better academic credentials who will not get into JHU this year. Baseball and coach Babb indeed pushed him over the top and as a result baseball has already given him back more than we could have ever asked for.
Regarding his baseball ability, I can honestly say that I have been to every game he has ever played. He is a very good baseball player and gets better every time he steps on the field. Like myself he matured late. (He grew almost three inches in the past year). Pro prospect? No, but at least we are realistic about it. Also, like someone said earlier, he played last spring and summer with torn cartilage in his knee. He had a productive HS season and showcased very well over the summer.
As I said, academics were always first priority so we focused on those types of schools even though there was plenty of interest from schools we were not interested in which I will not name here as I feel no need to disparage them or the kids who are going to them. There was interest from one Ivy but they saw him as a middle reliever so we focused primarily on NESCAC schools where he would have a chance to pitch and hit. All four NESCAC schools that recruit and go to showcases (Amherst, Tufts, Wesleyan, Middlebury) showed strong interest and invited him up. None more so than Tufts who saw him play four times and we visited three. Up until late August we thought he was going there because of it’s larger size and proximity to Boston and coach Casey runs a great program. I recommend it whole heartily. Then JHU came into the picture. After we visited with the team, coach Babb and toured the campus we looked at each other on the way home and we both knew. He was invited to come back for an overnight but it wasn’t necessary. There were other Centennial schools that called (Swarthmore, Muhlenberg, Haverford) but they were too small. JHU is a perfect fit in terms of size, location, academics and a very strong baseball program. Sure, the baseball will be competitive and there are no guarantees (who has that?) What is guaranteed is that he is going to a great school and baseball helped him get in.
To the negative guy, I’m pretty sure I know who you are and wouldn’t expect much more from you. In any event, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Good luck and congratulations to all the 09 boys who will have a chance to continue playing baseball in.
in College.
T both Lou’s. Congratulations. Glad to see that alot of homework was done and a great decision made.
Mike’s Dad
Thanks. We appreciate that. I think I could write a book on it now. Particularly on dealing with these academic schools. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me here or email me @ LRicci@hrg.net
I know Lou and cannot be more ecstatic about his college choice. Lou, good for you; Mr. Ricci, job well done. Academics should always come first in an amateur ballplayer’s life, and Mr. Ricci, your explanation of why Lou will be attending Johns Hopkins should be published, framed, and perhaps even given the Pulitzer. Lou, good luck and congratulations.
I was a teammate of Lou’s last year, and let me tell you, he was a very surprising play to me. He showed up to each game and quietly, yet carefully, ready to beat the opponent. His soft competitiveness is a lulling attack at each opponent faced. He is a very deceiving pitcher. switching up the inner and outer corners almost at slight of hand. His abilities have gone beyond expectations of anyone, and let this be know that Lou Ricci is one tough baller.
TO THE RICCI FAMILY, I JUST WANT TO SAY GREAT JOB !!! AS AS PARENT OF A SEC 1 PLAYER THAT IS NOW IN COLLEGE ,AT A D2 SCHOOL PLAYING BB AND DOING WELL IN CLASS , THEAMOUT OF TIME AND COMITTMENT THAT IS PUT INTO GETTING TO THIS POINT IS HARD ,I KNOW FOR A FACT HOW HARD MY SON HAD TO GET HIS GRADES UP JUST TO GET IN PLUS PLAY ,GOOD LUCK TO YOUR SON ,IM SURE HE HAS WORKED HARD !!! ,ALSO TO ALL THE NEGATIVE WRITE INS ,I BET IF YOU HAD TO PUT YOUR REAL NAME
NOBODY WOULD HAVE TO READ THE THINGS ON THIS BLOG THAT YOU WOULD NEVER SAY TO THE PLAYERS OR THE FAMILYS THAT HAVE DONE THE BEST THEY COULD FOR THERE SON
Wow, that was honestly one of the most pathetic things i have ever seen on this blog. A father coming on here and writing a novel trying to talk up his kid. If you are really that upset about what a few immature people say then you really have to work on your self confidence. Second, i have never ever heard about this kid and i have been following Section 1 baseball just as much as anyone out there so don’t try coming on here and talking up your kid, let your kid show it on the field. And yes, some of these people do have a point in which John Hopkins did not offer your kid a baseball scholarship, they may have talked to him or sent him a letter just as they do with thousands of other high school students telling him that he has a chance to try out if he gets into the school, but he is not going there for baseball. He got into the school for his grades and thats it, the coach may have invited him to try out for the team, but he has just as good of a shot making the team as any other student who is accepted into that school.
Section 1 – I am not sure you understand what type of program Bob Babb runs at JHU. It’s a D1 program at a D3 school. They have 60-70 players in the program and a player has very little or no chance of making the team unless he was recruited. Since JHU has very high academic standards, Babb has to recruit only players that he can get into the school. He has to look for excellent baseball players that are also very strong students. Not such an easy task. He competes with a few other schools that recruit from the same small pool: Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts, Bowdoin and Haverford. Most of the athletes playing at JHU and the schools mentioned above would not have been accepted if they were not recruited athletes. It is a tribute to the program that Hopkins is consistently at or near the top of the Centennial Conference, and was in the D3 National Finals in 2008.
Also, this has been mentioned before on this blog, but I think it is worth repeating. D1 baseball programs offer very little scholarship money. If you are a family that needs financial assistance to pay for college, you have a higher probability of getting financial aid from a D3 school with a good academic reputation. The Ricci’s approach was what all Section 1 baseball players and their parents should strive for. Use baseball as a way to get into the better academic schools. Coaches at better academic schools need to find smart baseball players. Parents should be encouraging their sons to excel academically as well as athletically, and baseball could help them get into a school that will change their life. There is more of a chance to play 4 years and you graduate with a diploma that you can be proud of for the rest of your life.
Greg DeVoux RHP from Brewster HS has committed to Keane University in NH and John Cosenza will be joining Dan Zlotnic at Vermont. Congratulations to both these fine young men. Let see an article Josh or do the parents need to write?
Looks like they just did.
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TO THE COSENZA FAMILY, JOE ,PLEASE TELL JOHN THAT WE ARE VERY HAPPY FOR ALL THE HARD WORK ,GIVE HIM OUR BEST ,
AF
Congrats guys! Don’t forget to bring the Under Armour.
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Yo this is weak that your dad is going on here to defend you. Don’t forget the underarmour!