Rams find footing after early struggles on Florida spring break trip.

By: Justin Porrino 

March 24th, 2026

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State Rams baseball team opened the 2026 season with high expectations, even within the current transition period after losing 8 seniors and an All-American in their previous Skyline championship season. The Rams would once again use their spring break trip to Davenport, Florida, to test the waters and see if they can compete with some of the best teams in the nation. When asked about this year's Florida trip, star player, Richie Heyder, explained, “We definitely have a lot of grit. It took a little bit for us to get going, but once we did, we were rolling, and the team really came together, both on and off the field.”

Despite the resilience Richie mentions, the Rams faced early adversity against a powerhouse Clarkson team led by Cam Jerret who carried a .382 batting average in the 2025 season. Coming off the plane on Thursday night, the Rams would wake up Friday with a tall task in front of them, especially for such a young team. Heyder explains, “You could definitely tell some of the guys were scared in their play and just the way they carried themselves”. This fear would end up costing the Rams as they fell to Clarkson 10-0, getting mercy-ruled after just 7 innings of play. 

The next day, Farmingdale would play against another D3 baseball powerhouse in Scranton. Scranton has already taken down the eleventh-ranked Case Western University this year and has seemed to find success early in their season. The Royals would carry that momentum into their matchup against Farmingdale, beating them 6-5 in game one and following it up by winning 13-3 against the Rams in the second game. 

This would put Farmingdale at a 0-3 start to the Florida trip, and many fans and alums began to wonder if the wheels were falling off for the young Rams team. Richie assures us the team never lost confidence, saying, “It was a little tough at first, you could definitely see some bad body language and tough attitudes, but we knew we had to come together and just play for each other, play hard and get back in the win column.” 

The bad body language and tough attitudes continued as the Rams played a Coe College team who has had massive success in years prior, posting a 28-13 record in 2025 in one of the most difficult D3 baseball conferences in the country. A hot start for the Rams, scoring 2 runs in the first inning. It was not enough to hold Coe back as they rattled off 14 runs, scoring in every inning of the game. 

Massively in need of a win with only three games left in the spring break trip, something had to change for this Rams team to find success. Captain Richie Heyder explains the shift in mindset that the team had after this tough stretch of losses, saying that “I think what we really baked into the team was that it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side,” Heyder said. “We just have to play for each other and trust who we are.” 

That approach immediately showed the Rams looked like a completely different team walking into their matchup against Springfield with confidence and determination to get a win on the record. While Springfield may not have been the most difficult opponent of the trip, posting a 14-22 record last season, it was still extremely important for the Rams to win to build some momentum for the rest of the trip. Richie Heyder would lead his team to a victory, going 2-4 with a double, and John Francisco, a freshman for the Rams, also tallied 2 RBI’s for himself. 

Coming off a win and finally having some momentum, the Rams would go on to crush Lesley College, beating the 13-0 in a 7-inning mercy-rule and bringing back two wins to Long Island to start conference play. When asked about the pressure that is on Richie personally and on this Farmingdale team in the upcoming season, he explained, 

“I obviously hold myself to a very high standard, and being one of the leaders now, I want to set a good example for the guys, but when I’m playing, it’s more of a confident and relaxed style, just knowing who I am and knowing that I have guys that are always looking up to me.”... “I think the expectation is just to repeat (the Skyline Conference Championship). We know it’s a tough task and the conference is coming for us, but we know we have the ability to do it.”

With conference play set to begin, Farmingdale returns from the Florida trip not as a finished product but a team currently battling the adversity of losing a strong senior class. In the coming weeks, we will see if the challenges in Florida will be learned from or if the Rams will continue to show weaknesses in their game.