Greely senior ace Ryan Twitchell earns applause from his father, Scott, his coach, Derek Soule, and his teammates after signing his National Letter of Intent Thursday to attend and play baseball as a pitcher at the University of Rhode Island, a Division I school.

Twitchell, an imposing strike-throwing machine, threw a no-hitter in the 2015 Class B state game and was named Greely’s 2016 Spring Male Athlete of the Year. He’s 12-2 in his career, 4-0 in the postseason.

“Today was a very exciting day,” said Twitchell, who also seriously considered St. John’s and Hartford. “I knew in the fourth or fifth grade that I liked to compete on the mound. Once I hit high school, I knew I could play in college. I wanted to play Division I. URI has a great coaching staff. There are some very good teams in the Atlantic 10 (conference) and URI won it last year. I like the campus. Being right by the ocean feels like being in Portland. I’m excited.”

“This is a remarkable accomplishment coming from a small town like Cumberland, Maine,” said Soule. “Giving kids a chance to develop and if they wish and if they have the ability, to play in college, is one of the many things that we take pride in as a program. We’ve had 24 players since 2000 who have played college baseball. Ryan is the third who has been able to play Division I. We’re proud of him. I first had Ryan as an eight-year-old in fall ball and you could see his explosiveness. He’ll be one of the elite pitchers in the state this year and he’ll go down as one of the best this program has produced and we’ve produced some good ones. He’ll impact the URI program immediately.”


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