Are you ready

NOW @ HSGameTime.com Can Bartolo Colon help the Red Sox pitching staff this season? Tell us what you think at projosports.com/redsox McAdam’s SoxTalk We’ll have an audio report from Sean in Fort Myers posted by midday today at projosports.com/redsox Wait and see CRANSTON WEST TOPS CRANSTON EAST: View the gallery at HSGameTime.com/rhodeisland SECTION C TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008 Road arenas are houses of horror for these Friars Over the last three seasons, PC has won only six of 30 games away from home and is 5-19 in Big East road contests. BY KEVIN MCNAMARA JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER SPORTS WORTH THE RISK W L The Red Sox reached an agreement on a minor- league contract with former Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon. Colon is recovering from elbow and shoulder injuries. ERA 2007 Career 6 146 8 95 6.34 4.10 For up-to-the-second stats and scores: Phone: 401-277-7340 Fax: 401-277-7444 E-mail: pjsports@projo.com projosports.com/redsox PROVIDENCE — There’s certainly no place like home for the Providence College Friars these days. After all, the road is a very scary place. Winning on the road in college basketball is never easy, but over the last few seasons Tim Welsh’s Friars have met with horrific results when they leave the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The latest downer was an 80-53 loss at West Virginia on Saturday that dropped the Friars to 1-8 on the road this season. PC’s only win came against one of the hottest teams in the country, Connecticut, on Jan. 17. This year’s road woes are a continuation of PC’s problems away from home. Over the last three seasons, PC has won just six of 30 road games and is 5-19 in Big East road contests. The Friars’ final road game this season is Sunday at Cincinnati. Any college hoops fan knows the challenges a team faces when it invades a rival’s homecourt. Opposing fans breathing down your neck, weather delays, stuffy hotel rooms. The list of obstacles to winning away from home is certainly lengthy, but they’re hurdles good teams find a way to clear. “It’s always so difficult, but it’s a challenge you have to meet,” said Welsh. “It seems like we’ve seen other teams play really well. West Virginia played at a high level. So did Pitt. St. John’s played one of their better games. I think that’s on us, too, but you have to find a way to get it done.” While the Friars have lost nine of their SEE BARTOLO COLON n Age: 34 (turns 35 on May 24) n Throws: Right n Height: 5-foot-11 n Weight: 250 pounds n Played for: Indians (1997-2002), Expos (2002), White Sox (2003), Angels (2004-07) n Scouting Report: Colon came off the DL in September to get 25 groundball (outs) in his last two starts, a glimpse of the pitcher he is when healthy. He’s well worth a flier in a tight pitching market, and is likely to be one of the top-three bargains of the [offseason]. (Baseball Prospectus) THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / BOB BREIDENBACH If Bartolo Colon can get himself in shape and revert to form after two injury-plagued seasons, the Red Sox just might have made themselves a sweet deal. Sox might have a cheap insurance policy in Colon BY SEAN MCADAM JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER FRIARS, C5 Road rage Providence College is 10-30 on the road in the four seasons since it last posted a winning road record: HOME NEUTRAL AWAY 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 9-4 16-3 9-7 9-8 11-4 3-2 0-2 0-0 1-3 1-2 1-8 2-8 3-8 4-6 8-3 FORT MYERS, Fla. — He probably won’t be ready to pitch before the start of the season and his new team can only guess about his conditioning. He’s battled shoulder (2006) and elbow (2007) issues the last two years, is coming off the highest ERA of his career and, though healthy, didn’t make his last club’s postseason roster back in October. So, why, exactly, are the Red Sox excited about signing pitcher Bartolo Colon? “He’s a low-risk, potential high-reward signing,’’ explained general manager Theo Epstein yesterday, confirming reports Sunday that the Sox had signed the 2005 A.L. Cy Young Award winner to a non-guaranteed $1.2-million minor-league contract. “It takes more than five starting pitchers to get through a season. Obviously he’s an accomplished guy and if we can get him back to the form where he is throwing well he can certainly help us at some point this season.” Colon is expected here today, but hasn’t thrown in about three weeks after throwing 41⁄3 innings against Venezuela in the Caribbean World Series. “It’s probably safe to say he’s a little behind everybody else,” said Epstein. Allard Baird, Epstein’s special assistant, watched Colon then, and also scouted him last September when Colon was finishing up his four-year stay with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Colon’s velocity was down earlier this month, but last fall, he was topping out at 94 mph. But durability has been a question mark the last two seasons. After a string of 200-inning seasons, he made just 27 starts in SEE RED SOX, C3 Elizabeth Beisel, of North Kingstown High School, says she enjoys doing things teenagers do, such as surfing with her friends off Narragansett Town Beach. She has posted the second-fastest time of any American female swimmer in the 200-meter backstroke and will swim in seven events at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / ANDREW DICKERMAN Swimming sensation Beisel relishes spotlight The request caught Elizabeth Beisel off-guard. “Will you sign this?,” a girl asked Beisel as the girl stood JOHN on the deck of the UniGILLOOLY versity of Rhode Island swimming pool Saturday holding a copy of the program from the R.I. Interscholastic League’s girls state swimming championships. You can excuse Beisel for being a little stunned by the question. After all, the girl asking for the autograph was a competitor in the meet just like Beisel. How many young Rhode Island athletes have ever had someone who competed against them ask for an autograph? But then, these days, Beisel is traveling in relatively uncharted territory for a Rhode Island teenager. It can be debated that there has never been a Rhode Island high school athlete who has reached the level of national athletic prominence at such an early age as Beisel in the swimming world. Rocco Baldelli was the sixth selection overall in the 2000 Major League Draft, but that came only a few days before he graduated from Hendricken High. Brian Lawton was the first American selected No. 1 in the NHL Draft, but that was two months after he had finished his senior season at Mount St. Charles in Beisel’s record day Individual records set by Elizabeth Beisel at Saturday’s state girls swimming championships: 200 yard 100 yard freestyle backstroke Time 1:47.38 54.71 Records State, URI pool State, URI pool In the 200-yard freestyle, the URI pool record of 1:51.73 had been set by Jenny Thompson in 1989. From 1992 through 2004, Thompson won eight Olympic gold medals. 1983. Beisel is only a 15-year-old North Kingstown High School sophomore, SEE GILLOOLY, C5 Are you ready? PROVIDENCE RHODE RACES Find out more at CoxRhodeRaces.com May 4, 2008 CMYK C 1 MAIN 2/26