Introducing Joe Cialone

Well, I guess it is about time I introduce myself as the newest college baseball correspondent here at Minor League Ball.

I grew up on Rice college baseball, going to games almost any chance I got. I was fortunate enough to attend Rice, and even more fortunate that they let me stick around for a fifth year. I suppose I should get this out of the way now: I'm a gigantic Rice homer. Not only can Rice do no wrong in my eyes, it has never done any wrong.

Now, I'm in grad school at the University of Texas. Blessed again with a great college program in my back yard, I couldn't be happier with this new development.

So far, I've posted stories of trips to Florida and Louisiana. With school starting to heat up, most of my posts going forward are going to be Central and South Texas reports - UT, Texas State, Baylor, Rice, Houston, Texas A&M, etc. There's still plenty of good baseball to be played in the area, so I'm sure I'll come up with some interesting snippets from time to time.

I've been involved with baseball my whole (albeit short to this point) life, and if you want to more details you can ask. Otherwise, I'll leave you with this story.

My first summer after high school, I helped coach a team of 12-14 year old kids on a charity/baseball trip to the Dominican Republic. I was one of two younger coaches, the other being a freshman catcher at USC (the Trojans). Our first game was scheduled in Santo Domingo before any of our pitchers or catchers were set to arrive. So I took the mound against a group of young Dominicans with a Pac-10 catcher behind the plate. The Dominican parents & fans in attendance knew what was going on, and played along. Joking demands for birth certificates were made throughout the seven innings. Turnabout is fair play, DR!

(image from riceowls.com)