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06/30/2016 12:00 AMRyder Miconi has strived to compete at the highest level from the first time he stepped on the baseball diamond. This spring, Ryder competed at the highest level of the collegiate ranks with Division I William & Mary and played a huge part in his team's storybook season.
After getting some playing time his first two years, Ryder, a Guilford baseball alum, earned the designated hitter job for the Tribe as a junior this season. Ryder batted .314 and earned All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Second Team honors, after which he helped William & Mary win its first conference tournament since 2001 to reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time. Ryder continued swinging a hot bat in the Charlottesville Regional bracket of the big dance and made the All-Region Team.
While Ryder's great campaign was unfolding on the field, he was also working diligently in the classroom and came away with a pair of distinctions based on his academic aptitude. A double major in finance and environmental policy who sports a 3.9 grade-point average, Ryder was named to the CAA All-Academic Team and also chosen as the conference's Baseball Scholar Athlete of the Year.
"Honestly, it was just a lot of fun. It was the most fun I've ever had playing baseball. The whole year was something I'll never forget and it was just really exciting," Ryder says. "It meant a lot knowing that we not only had a great team this year, but that I helped the team win, and that's the most-important part of being on a team. I just wanted to help my team in any way I could. My first two years, I didn't do as much. Having a full-time role and helping the team was super gratifying and exciting."
Ryder played third base for Guilford and was an All-Hammonasset pick in his junior year before captaining the team as a senior in 2012. Ryder says he formed many great relationships, while developing as a leader and learning the importance of team camaraderie with the Indians.
Ryder then did a postgraduate year at Choate Rosemary Hall and got in contact with
William & Mary's baseball coach during that time. William & Mary offered Ryder a chance to play Division I ball at an excellent institution and so he headed off to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Ryder, a lefty batter who throws right-handed, started 24 games between his first two seasons and used that experience to adjust to the premier pitching at the college level. The stakes were raised this year as Ryder had designs on being a fixture in the lineup and he wound up locking down the DH spot and starting 54 games. Ryder's .314 batting average was complemented by a .425 on-base percentage, 15 doubles, 26 RBI, and 35 runs scored. He also drew 39 walks, struck out just 29 times in 207 at-bats, and reached base in 28-straight games. With numbers like these, it's no surprise that Ryder played his way to a spot on the All-Conference Team.
"It was an extremely satisfying and gratifying moment," says Ryder. "I had put in so much work—not even this year, but my whole life playing baseball—and to be recognized in that way, I was super grateful and super excited for my team. Usually, it takes a team having a good year to get recognized individually, so it's an award that goes to the whole team in my mind."
Ryder and the Tribe's regular season success set the table for a great playoff run that featured a ridiculous last-gasp rally. William & Mary dropped its first contest in the CAA Tournament and thus needed to win four games in the face of elimination to claim the conference crown. The Tribe took two to reach the finals and now had to twice defeat the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Trailing 8-1 in the ninth inning, William & Mary pushed seven runs across the plate, tying the game on Ryder's sacrifice fly, before the game was postponed due to rain from Tropical Storm Bonnie. When play resumed the next day, the Tribe won 9-8 in 12 innings and later prevailed 14-9 in the winner-take-all contest that sent them to the NCAA Tournament.
"It was insane. It was the craziest, most-unbelievable moment I've ever been a part of," Ryder says. "It was a huge moment for our team in general. This is the reason why I wanted to play NCAA Division I baseball—to have moments like that and play in those types of games."
William & Mary went on to the Charlottesville Regional of the NCAA Tournament and notched two victories, including one that knocked out top seed Virginia, before the Tribe were eliminated. Ryder got a hit in all four games and was chosen as a member of the All-Region Team.
Ryder says the Tribe's postseason ride makes him want to "work even harder this offseason to get back there again." Head Coach Brian Murphy credits Ryder for the "consistency and competitiveness of his at-bats" and knows that Ryder will keep working hard to see continued success with both the bat and the books.
"He's a great student and a really well-rounded kid, a double major who's been a great student the whole time he's been here," says Murphy. "He was well prepared coming from high school to come in here and do well and is that type of guy in all aspects—socially, academically, the baseball side, work ethic. He's done everything you can ask for and the All-Academic accolades are certainly equally as important as baseball."
Ryder has made the Dean's List every semester at William & Mary and he's also been a three-time Provost Award winner for carrying a GPA of 3.5 or better. It's taken a ton of extra effort for Ryder to balance his hefty academic and athletic workloads, but being named Academic All-Conference and the CAA's Baseball Scholar Athlete of the Year are affirmation that every second of his effort is well worth it.
"It means a lot. You put in so much work and take a lot of pride in academics. The reason I'm in college is not necessarily to play baseball, but to get an education, and to be recognized for that means a lot," Ryder says. "It also makes my parents happy. They know how hard I work in school and not just in baseball. There's a lot of late nights on buses and in hotel rooms to get work done and I'm glad it's paid off."