Welcome to Episode 60 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our fifth of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the New England region and its seven conferences. Topics include:

• CCC
  • Salve Regina (at 2:00) is the class of this conference and boasts two of the best strikeout pitchers in the region atop their rotation
  • Teams (at 4:50) like Endicott, Roger Williams, Western New England, and Nichols will need to have a lot go right to compete with the Seahawks
• GNAC (at 5:50)
  • The last 12 titles have gone to either St. Joseph's (Maine) or Suffolk...maybe this is the year a team like Johnson & Wales could break the streak?
• LEC
  • Southern Maine (at 9:15) lost a ton of All-Region talent and still is star-studded as ever; such is life as the Huskies
  • UMass-Boston (at 15:00) has a whole lot of offense to replace but a deep pitching staff could still take them far
  • Rhode Island (at 20:05) has emerged as a legit sleeper in this powerhouse conference
  • UMass-Dartmouth (at 22:30) has some studs and Eastern Connecticut will certainly hang around
• MASCAC
  • Westfield State (at 23:10) will probably continue to run the show but there is some room for a team like Fitchburg State, Worcester State, or Salem State to contend
• NECC
  • Mitchell (at 25:25) returns most of their best players and are primed to regain control of this conference
  • New England College (at 28:25) will need to replace a huge chunk of the squad that went on the amazing run to the super regional in 2019 
• NESCAC
  • Tufts (at 32:30) has enough to defend their title, but a weak schedule means they'll have to win it again to get in
  • Trinity (Conn.) (at 34:05) made us believers last year and might have one of the best players in the country
  • Middlebury (at 37:30) and Williams should be solid
• NEWMAC
  • Babson (at 39:10) is losing some key contributors but should remain an excellent team playing an impressively insane schedule
  • Wheaton (Mass.) (at 42:45) continues to be a Damn Good Baseball Team™ and has some exciting young talent on both sides of the ball
  • MIT (at 47:10) cannot be slept on as the defending champs, and they have similarly elite talent to matchup with their NEWMAC rivals

We concluded (at 50:30) with a few other notable player shout outs, our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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