Mike Le Bel

Classroom

A Finance major, Le Bel is a four-time Dean’s List honoree and three-time member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (semester GPA of 3.50 or better). In 2011, he received URI’s Scholar-Athlete Award and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team. Additionally, he is a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. This year, he was selected to be one of College Baseball Daily’s featured bloggers for the 2012 season (http://bit.ly/yVcyb9). After his playing career, Le Bel plans to utilize his finance degree to help impact the lives of inner-city athletes.

Character

Le Bel’s “lead by example” demeanor has earned him the role of team co-captain as both a junior and senior as he is highly respected by both his teammates and coaches. “Mike is as good as it gets as far as makeup is concerned — he is a great teammate, a great student, a very good player and an even better person who comes from a great family,” said head coach Jim Foster. “He is all about the team and will do whatever he can to help us win. I really can’t say enough about all of the things he does for our program, both on and off the field.” While Le Bel’s work ethic may be unmatched, the source of his drive and motivation comes from his best friend, Patrick White, who passed away from rhabdomyosarcoma (a rare form of tissue cancer) when Le Bel was 15 years old. Not only were the two best friends, they were teammates as well, with Le Bel playing shortstop and White playing second base. Le Bel now wears White’s former jersey number, No. 7, as a way of keeping his best friend out there on the diamond with him. No stranger to tragedy, Le Bel was again forced to deal with the loss of a teammate when Rhode Island redshirt freshman Joey Ciancola’s sudden death shook the entire URI community this past fall. A true tribute to his character, Le Bel remained a rock for his team throughout this very difficult time. He and his teammates have created “Flow for Joe” and are refraining from cutting their hair throughout the 2012 baseball season as an homage to Ciancola and his long hair.

Community

Le Bel has been involved with the Patrick White Jimmy Fund Baseball Tournament since 2001. Played in memory of Le Bel’s best friend and former teammate, Patrick White, the tournament has raised more than $200,000 for the Jimmy Fund. When Le Bel was too old to play in the tournament, he continued to help out in any way he could — from assisting with concessions, raffles and public address, to throwing ceremonial first pitches and presenting checks to the Jimmy Fund at the annual Jimmy Fund Telethon held at Fenway Park in Boston. In 2010, a memorial for Patrick White was erected at Adams Field in Quincy, Mass., and Le Bel was chosen to unveil it in front of the community. In addition to his involvement with the Jimmy Fund, Le Bel has also volunteered at the Animal Rescue League of Southern Rhode Island as well as various elementary and middle schools throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He served as a museum docent at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and assists with the Gull Point Yacht Club’s community events in his hometown of Quincy, Mass. He has also participated in URI’s annual breast cancer awareness event and has served as a volunteer instructor at numerous baseball camps and clinics. Along with his teammates, Le Bel has taken an active role in generating autism awareness (a cause that is especially important to head coach Jim Foster as his daughter, Delaney, is affected by autism) by participating in several “Autism Speaks” events as well as the URI baseball team’s annual Autism Awareness game, which has raised more than $10,000 for the Autism Project of Rhode Island.

Competition

Le Bel enters his senior season having appeared — and started — in 163 of the team’s 168 games over the past three years. He is a career .312 hitter with 201 hits, 153 runs, 36 doubles, 24 home runs, 111 RBI, 60 stolen bases and a .514 slugging percentage. As a freshman, he helped lead URI to a school-record 37 victories. Recognized in College Baseball Insider’s coaches poll as the Atlantic 10’s Best Infield Arm/Best Defensive Infielder and tabbed one of the Atlantic 10’s top five MLB Draft prospects by Baseball America, he has collected Atlantic 10 All-Conference, All-Championship and All-Rookie awards and also was selected to play in the 2011 New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-Star Game. Le Bel helped lead Rhode Island to three consecutive 30+ win seasons and, after just three years at URI, owns the career home runs (24) record. He also is on pace to set new all-time records in runs, total bases, extra base hits and assists and will likely end his career ranked fifth or better in hits, doubles, triples, RBI, stolen bases, slugging percentage and sacrifices.