KINGSTON –– Despite weather that requires the wearing of jackets, gloves and knit caps, and an exposed home field that can feel like a wind tunnel, high-school kids want to play baseball at the University of Rhode Island.

“A lot of kids outside the state want to come to the University of Rhode Island. They love the school and love the campus,” head coach Jim Foster said.

A lot of in-state kids as well want to attend URI, and some of them are baseball players.

“We offer a little more support here. I don’t want to recruit a kid from Rhode Island and have it not work out,” he said.

Foster emphasizes that Rhode Island kids do not have to head to the Carolinas or Florida to play a high level of Division I baseball.

“They need to go somewhere to get noticed and develop as a player. They can develop as a player and as a person here. They can get a lot of support academically and socially. Hopefully it will get to the point where kids dream of growing up and playing for URI,” he said.

URI is playing a 56-game schedule this year. The Rams upset No. 8 Miami, No. 25 Ohio State and No. 11 Oklahoma State last month. They lost a pair to No. 4 Cal State Fullerton, the second game by one run. They also have defeated North Carolina State and William & Mary.

“The whole state should be proud of that,” Foster said of the upsets.

And this weekend the Rams started playing their home games on the renovated Bill Beck Field, which, among other enhancements, was resurfaced with FieldTurf thanks to a $1.4-million gift from an anonymous donor.

‘‘Recruits will walk on campus and see this and be impressed,” Foster said. “That is probably the biggest thing that will help us. It’s all about facilities now. Kids are impressed with that type of thing.”

In addition to support, scheduling and facilities, Foster can offer recruits the possibility of attention from pro scouts. MLB teams have drafted URI players, and Foster has contacts from his 10 seasons in the minor leagues.

“I talk to guys from Rhode Island playing pro ball now, and they say that if URI had what we have now, and if they had got a good scholarship, they would have stayed in-state,” he said. Their dads and families could have watched them play, and Foster could have taught them the game and prepared them for pro ball, those players have told him.