No. 22 Southland Conference MLB Draft Prospect, D1Baseball.com
2017 Southland Conference Commissioner’s Spring Honor Roll
Summer 2018:
• Played for the Willmar Stingers in the Northwoods League, batting .263 with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 14 stolen bases in 46 games.
2018 Season:
• Started all 62 games at shortstop and enters 2019 having started 95 consecutive games there.
• had a career-long 12-game hitting streak from Feb. 28-March 18 and finished the season by hitting safely in 10 straight games.
• reached base in the final 19 games of the season, establishing a new career long.
• recorded 14 multi-hit games, highlighted by a 5-for-6 performance with a home run in a 34-0 win against Mississippi Valley State on April 25.
• scored six runs in the 34-0 win against Mississippi Valley State, setting the school record and making him one of eight players nationally to achieve that feat in 2018.
• led Northwestern State with 20 stolen bases, including a school-record-tying four in a 6-1 win against Abilene Christian on May 13.
• swiped three bases in a 3-2 win against Little Rock on April 18.
• recorded 11 assists against Stephen F. Austin on April 8, tying for the most nationally in a single game.
• delivered a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning of a 6-4 win at Central Arkansas on March 31.
• tied the school record with two triples in a game in a 3-2, season-opening win against Binghamton on Feb. 16.
2017 Season:
• Was Northwestern State’s primary shortstop, starting 48 of the 52 games he appeared in.
• homered twice – on the first pitch of an 11-2 win at ULM on April 4 and on the final pitch of a 10-7 walkoff win against Incarnate Word on May 6.
• the home run against UIW was his first career grand slam and capped a season-best, six-RBI day.
• the six RBIs were a season high for any NSU hitter.
• finished the season with six two-hit games and one three-hit games (at Kansas, March 4).
• hit safely in a career-long four straight games from March 26-April 1.
• went 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs in a 9-7 win against Lamar on March 28.
• produced his first career three-hit game and hit his first career triple at Kansas on March 4.
• reached base safely in the first 10 games of his career from Feb. 17-March 5.
High School:
• Two-sport letterman at Dutchtown, earning four letters for baseball coach Chris Shexnaydre.
• all-district selection as a junior and a senior.
• named All-Metro by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate as a senior.
• graduated with a 3.0 GPA and honors.
Personal:
• Born Oct. 21, 1997.
• son of Stacy and Ryan Ricca.
• one brother, Justin, and two sisters, Stevie and Whitney. Justin was chosen in the 2011 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• business major with a 3.5 grade point average who plans to own a business after graduation.
• life’s ambition is to “raise a family.”
