NEWS

The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) gears up to open the 2025 stint on Tuesday, June 3rd. At this time, the New England League presents a quick moment of reliving the 2024 season and a preview of what's to come in the NECBL's 31st season of action. 

 

Relive the 2024 NECBL Postseason 

 

The 2024 NECBL postseason was one for the books as it got off to a dominant start and saw intense competition in the end. The top four seeds in the league: No. 1 Vermont Mountaineers, No. 2 Newport Gulls, No. 3 Bristol Blues, and No. 4 Sanford Mainers all recorded sweeps over their respective opponents in the quarterfinal round. The semifinals featured matchups of Sanford versus Vermont, and Newport versus Bristol. Both the Mainers and the Gulls stayed on track with sweeps in the semifinal to meet in the final pursuit of the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup.

 

The championship series provided NECBL fans with more competition, being the first playoff series not to end in a two-game sweep. The 2024 Fay Vincent Sr. Cup Finals saw the matchup of the four-seeded Sanford and the two-seed Newport. Both teams were hot in the playoffs, with flawless records up until the championship series. The Mainers were able to take game one on the road, beating the Gulls 7-1 after a dominant pitching performance by Connor Ball (Alabama). 

 

Game two in Newport was an offensive explosion for the Gulls, scoring seven runs in five innings, which was sadly put to a halt due to a rain delay. Play resumed the next day, and the Mainers were able to get on the board, scoring 3 runs, but that was all she wrote as the Newport Gulls took game two 7-3 to even up the series. 

 

Game three was a battle, as both teams battled back and forth with the Gulls breaking it open in the bottom of the fourth inning. Down 2-1, Dixon Williams (Eastern Carolina) crushed a two-run home run to give Newport the lead. To add to the damage, Matt Ossenfort (NC State) hit a three-run home run, providing insurance runs for the Gulls. In the top of the seventh, Devan Bade (Binghamton) hit a two-run single to cut the deficit to 6–4, and in the top of the eighth, Caleb Shpur (UConn) did his part for the Mainers, tying the game with a two-run home run to tie the game. Later in that same inning, the Mainers took the lead 7–6 on a single by CJ Willis (Quinnipiac), to give Sanford the lead heading into the ninth. Down to their final three outs, Tyler Hare (Wofford) hit his second solo home run of the night. After scoring Newport’s first run earlier in the game, the spectacular Hare was able to tie the game for Newport in the ninth!

 

In the tenth, Drew Delucia (Franklin Pierce) came into the game as a reliever for the Gulls, keeping the Mainers’ bats silent, and giving his team a chance to secure the title. In the bottom of the tenth, the Gulls made the dream come true. Dixon Williams hit a game-winning RBI single, walking it off 8–7 to give the 2024 Fay Vincent Sr. Cup to the Newport Gulls.

 

Game One Recap | Game One Box Score | Game Two Recap (Suspended), Game Two Final Recap | Game Two Box Score

Game Three Recap | Game Three Box Score

 

2025 NECBL Season Preview 

 

The 2025 NECBL season kicks off this Tuesday, June 3rd, as all thirteen teams look to pave their way to the 2025 Fay Vincent Senior Cup Finals. Can the Newport Gulls defend last year’s title? Or will a new team reign supreme this August? Only time will tell. 

 

The Gulls boast three returners from last year’s championship roster. Randy Seymour (Michigan State) headlines the group, coming off a season with the Spartans in which he batted .268 with 53 hits and 36 RBIs. Pitchers Nicholas DiRito (UMass Lowell) and Drew Delucia (Franklin Pierce) round out the veteran squad. 

 

The two-time defending champs are looking to reload this season, with Seymour, DiRito, and Delucia joining 19 other players in the D1 NCAA Tournament. 22 players mark the most in the NECBL, with the highly-touted roster including tournament appearances from six players from the SEC, six from the ACC, and five from the Big 12. 

 

The Ocean State Waves have 19 players of their own participating in the tournament, and the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks have 16 players as well. Both teams are looking to bounce back after posting sub-.500 records in 2024, while the Sharks just earned a postseason berth.

 

NECBL baseball officially kicks off at 6:05 ET on NECBL+, with the North Shore Navigators hosting the Upper Valley Nighthawks, the host of the 2025 NECBL All-Star Game.

 

Later in the evening at 6:30, the Gulls face the Valley Blue Sox in a rematch of the 2024 playoffs, which the Gulls won 2-0. Simultaneously, the Danbury Westerners host the Keene Swamp Bats while Ocean State travels to southeast Connecticut to take on the Mystic Schooners. To cap off the night, the Sharks play the Vermont Mountaineers, marking the second first-round rematch of the slate. 

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The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 230 alumni to the Major Leagues with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.