Image by Ed Brennen
Nolan Geisler, a rising sophomore pitcher on the UMass Lowell baseball team, delivers during a recent Futures Collegiate Baseball League start for the Westfield Starfires. Geisler tossed five no-hit innings in a 4-0 win over the host Nashua Silver Knights.
The summer months are the perfect time for UMass Lowell students to gain career-connected, real-world experience through co-ops and internships.
For UMass Lowell baseball pitchers Nolan Geisler, Kevin Rourke and Jake LeFrancois, playing in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this summer is kind of like a hardball internship — one where they can hone their skills, gain valuable exposure and grow as athletes.
“Playing every day, just being around a baseball field and not taking the summer off, makes you a better player,” says LeFrancois, a rising sophomore business major who is playing in his second Futures League season with his hometown Worcester Bravehearts.
“The competition is really good,” says LeFrancois, a right-handed pitcher. “There’s talent all around the league.”
With the recent announcement of a new Futures League team coming to UMass Lowell’s LeLacheur Park next summer, LeFrancois and his fellow River Hawk right-handers are excited about the expansion franchise bringing top-notch talent (and professional scouts) to their home field from late May to early August.
“LeLacheur is the perfect spot for it. It will be one of the better stadiums in the league, and I’m sure that the city of Lowell will get some big crowds,” says Rourke, a rising junior business major from Londonderry, New Hampshire, who is pitching for the Nashua (New Hampshire) Silver Knights this summer.
Image by Ed Brennen
Kevin Rourke, left, and Nolan Geisler are teammates on the UMass Lowell baseball team, but they were on opposite sides of the diamond recently when their Futures Collegiate Baseball League squads squared off at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Rourke remembers attending Lowell Spinners minor league baseball games at LeLacheur as a kid, cheering for the Boston Red Sox’s wildly popular short-season Class A team. The Spinners sold out every game for seven consecutive seasons in the early 2000s and featured future big league stars Mookie Betts, Jonathan Papelbon and Andrew Benintendi, among others.
But the Spinners fell victim to minor league contraction following the pandemic-cancelled 2020 season, and the 4,700-seat LeLacheur Park has sat dormant for the past five summers.
The still-to-be-named Lowell team, which will expand the Futures League to seven franchises, will bring 31 home games to LeLacheur each summer, following the River Hawks’ spring season.
“It would definitely be cool to stay in Lowell next summer and play,” says Geisler, a rising sophomore criminal justice major from Bayonne, New Jersey, who is currently pitching for the Westfield (Massachusetts) Starfires.
Image by UML Athletics
Rising sophomore Jake LeFrancois, seen here delivering a pitch for the UMass Lowell baseball team, is in his second season with his hometown Worcester Bravehearts of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League.
Barese is familiar with the Futures League, having served as coach of the now defunct Wachusett Dirt Dawgs in 2012 and 2013.
“It’s a fantastic league,” says Barese, who is entering his fifth year with the River Hawk program and third as head coach. “We’ve had a lot of success with guys playing there in the summer, which is huge for their development. You have to play in a quality league, which the Futures League provides.”
Barese could see “at least four of our guys” playing on the Lowell team each summer.
Since launching in 2011, the Futures League has seen more than 300 of its former players drafted by Major League Baseball organizations, including 24 in this year’s draft. So far, 28 Futures League alumni have made it to the major leagues.
“If I could get to the professional level, that would be awesome. But right now, I’m just focused on college and where that takes me,” says Geisler, whose brother Rob is a rising senior and a catcher on the UML baseball team.
While the Futures League draws players from all National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) divisions, the UML trio says the competition is similar to what they see when playing for the Division I River Hawks. One difference, though, is that hitters swing wooden bats, which are heavier than the metal bats used in college.
Image by Ed Brennen
Rising junior Kevin Rourke signs autographs for young fans before his Nashua Silver Knights hosted the Westfield Starfires at Holman Stadium.
“That definitely an advantage for me as a pitcher,” says Geisler, who started in the bullpen this summer as he worked his way back from an arm injury and is now starting for the Starfires. In a recent start at Nashua, Geisler threw five no-hit innings in Westfield’s 4-0 win.
As much as Rourke would love the chance to play for the new Lowell team next summer, he has a more traditional internship lined up at Fidelity Investments.
“But it’s been fun meeting new people from other schools and making a lot of new friends,” says Rourke, whose parents were both student-athletes at UML: Kevin Rourke ’95 played baseball and Lynn Rourke ’95 ran track.
LeFrancois, who is earning some money this summer by working at a youth baseball camp hosted by the Bravehearts, says he’d be tempted to play for Lowell next year if given the opportunity.
“It would be a tough decision,” he says, “but that would be the coolest thing.”