The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 14-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat 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. In 2019, the Collegiate Summer Baseball Register ranked the NECBL as the 2nd best collegiate summer baseball league, behind only the Cape Cod League.
The North Shore Navigators are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts, playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The team plays home games at Fraser Field in Lynn. The team is owned by Old School Sports Group, LLC.
The Danbury Westerners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Danbury, Connecticut. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Rogers Park. The team played its inaugural season in 1995. The Danbury Westerners are the oldest active team in the NECBL. The Westerners compete in the Southern Division in the NECBL.
The 1994 NECBL season was the inaugural season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league operating in the northeastern United States region of New England. The league contained five franchises, all from the southern New England state of Connecticut: the Eastern Tides, Bristol Nighthawks, Fairfield Stallions, Middletown Giants, and Waterbury White Sox.
The 1995 NECBL season was the second season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league added two new franchises, the Central Mass Collegians of Leominster, Massachusetts, the league's first team outside the state of Connecticut, and the Danbury Westerners of Danbury, Connecticut. The league's Fairfield, Connecticut franchise, the Fairfield Stallions, ceased to exist after one season in the league.
The 1997 NECBL season was the fourth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league added a new franchise from Torrington, Connecticut, the Torrington Twisters. The league's Waterbury, Connecticut franchise dropped out after three seasons.
The 1998 NECBL season was the fifth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to seven teams with the addition of the Keene Swamp Bats of Keene, New Hampshire. The Swamp Bats were the league's first New Hampshire franchise.
The 1999 NECBL season was the sixth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to eight franchises with the addition of the Rhode Island Gulls, the league's second franchise in the New England state of Rhode Island.
The 2000 NECBL season was the seventh season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league added a franchise in Manchester, Connecticut, the Manchester Silkworms, along with a franchise in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Mill City All-Americans. The league lost its Leominster, Massachusetts franchise, the Central Mass Collegians and its West Warwick, Rhode Island franchise, the Rhode Island Reds.
The 2001 NECBL season was the eighth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to ten franchises with the addition of a second New Hampshire franchise, the Concord Quarry Dogs of Concord, New Hampshire. Also, the league's West Warwick, Rhode Island franchise rejoined the league as the Riverpoint Royals. The league's Cranston, Rhode Island franchise, the Rhode Island Gulls, moved to Newport, Rhode Island and became the Newport Gulls. The league's Lowell, Massachusetts franchise, the Mill City All-Americans, was renamed the Lowell All-Americans.
The 2002 NECBL season was the ninth season in the history of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to twelve franchises with the addition of the North Adams SteepleCats of North Adams, Massachusetts and the Sanford Mainers of Sanford, Maine, the league's first franchise in the New England state of Maine. Also, the league's Willimantic, Connecticut franchise changed its name from the Eastern Tides to the Thread City Tides Tides.
The 2003 NECBL season marked the tenth season of the existence of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to thirteen teams with the addition of the Vermont Mountaineers of Montpelier, Vermont. The franchise was the league's first in the New England state of Vermont. This marked the fulfillment of the league's goal of having a franchise in each of the six New England states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.
The 2004 NECBL season was the 11th season in the history of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league's Middletown, Connecticut franchise, the Middletown Giants, moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts and became the Holyoke Giants. Also, the league's Willimantic, Connecticut franchise, the Thread City Tides, moved to Hinsdale, Massachusetts and became the Berkshire Dukes.
The 2005 NECBL season was the 12th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league reduced its membership from thirteen teams to twelve teams with the league's West Warwick, Rhode Island franchise, the Riverpoint Royals, dropping out of the league. Also, the league's Hinsdale, Massachusetts franchise, the Berkshire Dukes, moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts and became the Pittsfield Dukes.
The 2006 NECBL season was the 13th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league's Lowell, Massachusetts franchise, the Mill City All-Americans, was renamed and became the Lowell All-Americans.
The 2008 NECBL season was the 15th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. The league's Holyoke, Massachusetts franchise, the Holyoke Giants moved to Lynn, Massachusetts and became the North Shore Navigators. Also, the league's Concord, New Hampshire franchise, the Concord Quarry Dogs, moved to Holyoke and became the Holyoke Blue Sox.
The 2010 NECBL season was the 17th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. Changes for 2010 included the league's Manchester, Connecticut franchise, the Manchester Silkworms, moving to Laconia, New Hampshire to become the Laconia Muskrats and the Pittsfield, Massachusetts franchise, the Pittsfield American Defenders, moving to Bristol, Connecticut to become the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club.
The Mystic Schooners are a collegiate summer baseball team that operates in the Mystic, Connecticut region. The franchise is one of the two oldest franchises in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
The 2012 NECBL season was the 19th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. Changes for 2012 included two of the league's East Division franchises from the 2011 season, the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide and one of the NECBL's charter franchises, the North Shore Navigators leaving the NECBL to join the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. As a result, the league has been reduced to 10 teams, with the Mystic Schooners moving to the East Division.
The Valley Blue Sox are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays its home games at Mackenzie Stadium. The Blue Sox were founded in 2001 as the Concord Quarry Dogs but moved following the 2007 season to Holyoke to fill the void left by the departure of the Holyoke Giants to Lynn, Massachusetts. In 2017, the team won its first NECBL championship against the Ocean State Waves.