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 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 1996 NECBL season was the third season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league added a franchise in West Warwick, Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Reds. The league's Bristol, Connecticut franchise, the Bristol Nighthawks, dropped out of the league after two seasons.
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 2009 NECBL season is the 16th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. The league's Torrington, Connecticut franchise, the Torrington Twisters, moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts and became the New Bedford Bay Sox. Due to the move, the League realigned into the East and West Divisions with 6 teams each.
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 Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is an eight-team collegiate summer baseball league. It has four franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Nashua Silver Knights is a collegiate summer baseball team based in Nashua, New Hampshire. It is a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with a 64-game regular season comprising eight teams ranging from New Hampshire to western Connecticut. The team's home games are played at Holman Stadium in Nashua. The team is owned by John Creedon Jr, who also owns the Worcester Bravehearts.
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 2013 NECBL season was the 20th season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. Changes for 2013 included the largest league expansion since 2003 with three new teams joining the league to increase the number of teams to 13. These include two expansion franchises, the Plymouth Pilgrims and the Ocean State Waves, as well as the Saratoga Brigade, the former Saratoga Phillies franchise from the New York Collegiate Baseball League, and the NECBL's first foray into New York state.
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.
