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New England Collegiate Baseball League

Current season, competition or edition: 2018 NECBL Season
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1993
Motto	Keep your eye on the dream
No. of teams	13
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Valley Blue Sox (2)
Most titles	Newport Gulls (6)
Official website	www.necbl.com

The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June and July, with a playoff in early August. Like the Cape Cod Baseball League and other amateur leagues, the NECBL is a showcase for top college-level players, giving professional baseball scouts a chance to see prospective pros playing against each other. Along with the Cape Cod Baseball League, Northwoods League, and Coastal Plain League, it is considered one of the top summer leagues in the country and is a part of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball.^[1][2][3]

Founded in 1993, the NECBL began its direction under George Foster, former Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets All-Star and Major League Baseball home run leader, and Emmy Award-winning television producer/director Joseph Consentino. Play started in 1994 and today the NECBL has become a strong twelve-team league that plays in all six New England states.^[4] It recruits players attending U.S. colleges from New England, the other 44 states, and foreign countries, provided that they come from NCAA-sanctioned colleges or universities, are in good academic standing, have completed at least one year of athletic eligibility, and have at least one year of eligibility remaining. The NECBL became a 13-team league in 2013 with the addition of teams in Rhode Island (Ocean State Waves), Massachusetts (Plymouth Pilgrims) and New York (Saratoga Brigade) (the league's first team to operate outside New England), but reverted to 12 teams after the Brigade folded. On October 30, 2015, the league announced the formation of an expansion franchise based in Hartford, Vermont that would begin play in 2016, bringing the league size back up to 13 teams.^[5]

The NECBL's current commissioner is Sean McGrath, former general manager of the North Adams SteepleCats. McGrath replaced Mario Tiani, who retired following the 2012 season.

Current franchises

Mountaineers

Mainers

Muskrats

Nighthawks

Swamp Bats

SteepleCats

Blue Sox

Bay Sox

Pilgrims

Waves

Gulls

Schooners

Westerners

(see individual team websites below)

• An asterisk (*) denotes a charter franchise of the league

Former teams

Relocated or renamed teams

Defunct teams

Season structure

For the current season, the league is divided into two six-team divisions, the North Division and the South Division. During the regular season, teams play in-division opponents a total of six times, three games at home and three away. Teams play out-of-division opponents twice, one game at home and one away. These games make up the 42 game regular season schedule. When doubleheaders are scheduled due to inclement weather, NECBL rules dictate that they are two seven-inning games. Until the end of the 2016 season, NECBL regular season games had 2 umpires, while All-Star and playoff games have 3 or 4 umpires. As of the 2017 season, all NECBL regular season games have 3-man umpiring crews. The top four teams from each division qualify for the playoffs. In the division semifinal round the first seeds play the fourth seeds and the second seeds play the third seeds, respectively, in best-of-three series. The winners of the division semifinals advance to the division finals, where they play a best-of-three series against their fellow division finalist. The division champions advance to the NECBL championship series, where they face each other in a best-of-three series to decide the NECBL champion.

Past champions

In the NECBL's history, the most successful team is the Newport Gulls, with six league championships and eleven championship series appearances (including one championship appearance as the Cranston, Rhode Island-based Rhode Island Gulls). The defunct North Shore Navigators franchise had four league titles. The Keene Swamp Bats have four league titles. The Vermont Mountaineers have three league titles. A pair of franchises have won two championships, the Sanford Mainers and the defunct Central Mass Collegians. The Mystic Schooners won a single championship, when the team was known as the Eastern Tides in the league's inaugural 1994 season.^[7]

Notable alumni

The following former NECBL players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball.^[8] Former NECBL players have reached the major league rosters of all thirty MLB teams, the thirtieth team being the Philadelphia Phillies when, in September 2015, Brian Bogusevic debuted with the team.^[9]

Media

All NECBL games are broadcast online through the NECBL Broadcast Network, with Pointstreak providing both audio and video for all games.^[10]

On May 14, 2010, the league signed an agreement with Pointstreak. Pointstreak provides "real-time scoring, official statistics, and administration services" to the NECBL. A highlight of Pointstreak's services is Game Live, a real-time statistics feature providing play-by-play for every NECBL game.^[11]

See also

• List of New England Collegiate Baseball League ballparks


• List of NECBL seasons


• List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues

Notes

External links

• New England Collegiate Baseball League

Team websites

• Danbury Westerners


• Keene Swampbats


• Mystic Schooners


• New Bedford Bay Sox


• Newport Gulls


• North Adams SteepleCats


• Ocean State Waves


• Plymouth Pilgrims


• Sanford Mainers


• Valley Blue Sox


• Vermont Mountaineers


• Winnipesaukee Muskrats