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.
Mackenzie Stadium is a baseball venue located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was home to the Holyoke Millers and today is used by both the Valley Blue Sox of the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the Elms College Blazers of the New England Collegiate Conference. It was built in 1933 and has a capacity of 4,100 people.
The Newport Gulls are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Gulls Baseball Club is a member of both the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the NECBL's Coastal Division. Since 2001, the Gulls have played at Cardines Field.
The Vermont Mountaineers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Montpelier, Vermont. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Montpelier Recreation Field.
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 Sanford Mainers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sanford, Maine. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Goodall Park.
The Keene Swamp Bats are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Keene, New Hampshire. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Alumni Field. In the NECBL, they are consistently one of the top teams and have reached the league playoffs in 18 of the past 21 seasons. The team also has one of the largest fan bases in the league. Since 2002, they have led the NECBL in attendance three times and have finished outside the top two teams in attendance only once. This attendance is facilitated by Alumni Field's having the largest official capacity of any NECBL ballpark.
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 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 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 Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide was a collegiate summer baseball team based in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It was a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with a 56-game regular season comprising 10 teams from New Hampshire to western Connecticut. The team played its home games at The Ball Park.
The 2011 NECBL season was the 18th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. Changes for 2011 included the league's Lowell, Massachusetts franchise, the Lowell All-Americans, moving to Old Orchard Beach, Maine to become the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide; while the Bristol, Connecticut franchise, the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club, will move to Mystic, Connecticut to become the Mystic Schooners. In the championship series, the Keene Swamp Bats defeated the Laconia Muskrats 2 games to 0 for their 3rd NECBL Championship.
The Martha's Vineyard Sharks is a collegiate summer baseball team based on Martha's Vineyard. It was a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league comprising 7 teams from New Hampshire to western Connecticut. They played in the futures league from 2010 to 2018 before switching to the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where they began playing in the league in 2019. In 2019 the Sharks posted the best regular season record in the league and won best of 3 series with Newport Gulls to win Southern Division. Ultimately losing 2-0 in the Championship versus Keene Swampbats. The team’s mascot is a likely reference to the film Jaws, which was shot on Martha's Vineyard and made it a popular tourist destination.
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.
The Upper Valley Nighthawks are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Hartford, Vermont. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), plays their home games at the Maxfield Sports Complex. The team began play in 2016 under the direction of the Crane Family. The Cranes previously created and operated the Laconia Muskrats in the NECBL.
The 2015 NECBL season was the 22nd season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. The same twelve 2014 teams returned for the 2015 season, as the divisional alignment remained the same. The Vermont Mountaineers repeated as regular season champions in the Northern Division, while the Newport Gulls edged the Mystic Schooners by a game to claim the Southern Division. The Mountaineers would top the North Adams SteepleCats in the Divisional Finals round of the postseason to advance to the NECBL Championship Series. There they met Mystic, which stunned the reigning champion Gulls by sweeping them in the South Divisional Finals. Vermont rallied after losing Game 1 of the best-of-three Championship Series, and it took a squeeze play in the top of the 10th inning to score the deciding run for the Mountaineers, who won the franchise's third championship and first since 2007.
The 2017 NECBL season was the 24th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. The same thirteen teams from 2016 returned for the 2017 season, and the divisional alignment remained the same. The playoff format for this season was slightly altered, reducing the number of teams that make it from eight to six. This meant a bracket structure where the top seed in each division earned a first-round bye, with the second and third-seeded teams battling in a one-game "Wild Card" matchup. Another change for the 2017 campaign was moving the All-Star Game farther back in the summer, to July 30, more than a week later than prior seasons.
