Bryant, Franklin Pierce, USM Honored by NECBL
By Tristan Hobbs, Matt Janek and Don Leypoldt

The NECBL was pleased to honor three New England colleges at the New England League’s Hall of Fame Dinner on November 30th.

Representing each Division in NCAA baseball, Bryant, Franklin Pierce and Southern Maine were recognized as the Most Valuable Program in New England.

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Some schools can lean on their long and distinguished baseball heritage to recruit successful players.

The Bryant Bulldogs cannot, which makes their 2013 season all the more remarkable.  Head coach Steve Owens’ charges completed an outstanding campaign that ended in the College World Series.  The Bulldogs program is all the more impressive considering that they were not even in Division I five years ago.  The University did not receive complete Division I status until the 2012-13 season.

Bryant finished the year 45-18-1.  It was the most wins in both school and Northeast Conference history.  The Bulldogs were crowned NEC regular season champs for the third time in four years and more importantly, got that first breakthrough win in the NEC Tournament.

A Bryant championship sweep was appropriate: the Bulldogs went 27-5 in conference play and rattled off a 19-game win streak, the longest in the country, between mid-March and mid-April.  Just prior to the start of the win streak, Bryant came into Columbus and beat Ohio State, the eventual runners-up in the Big Ten, to show they could play with anyone.

The season ended in Manhattan (KS) at the NCAA College World Series Regional.  They were the only team in New England to earn as high as a #3 seed.  Bryant defeated No. 15 Arkansas during the tournament and concluded the year ranked 30th in the country and 42nd in RPI.  And while accolades were scattered all around, it was the pitching that truly keyed Bryant’s success.  The team’s 2.73 ERA was 10th best in the country.

The school landed six players on the All-NEC team, including the Player (OF Kevin Brown), Rookie (OF A.J. Zarozny) and Coach of the Year (Owens).  Zarozny earned Freshman All-American honors as well while Brown, RHP Pete Kelich, OF Carl Anderson and closer Sal Lisanti picked up All-Region honors.  

The hallmark of an excellent program is producing players who excel in the classroom.  Brown earned Second Team All-Academic American honors, to go with his baseball accolades.  The Northborough, MA native graduated with a 3.5 GPA from Bryant.

Some of those names should ring a bell to NECBL fans.  Brown and Kelich earned All-NECBL honors for the Keene Swamp Bats and Newport Gulls respectively, while Anderson has been a strong contributor to the New Bedford Bay Sox for each of the last two summers.  This past summer, Gull closer Kyle Wilcox, a current Bryant player, also earned All-NECBL honors and was on all of the major Top Prospect lists for the League.

Brown, Kelich and RHP Joe Michaud got to continue their playing careers after the Manhattan Regional.  The Cubs, Padres and Athletics scooped up the respective players in the June Major League Draft.  Kelich rewarded the Friars by being named the top pitcher on their Arizona Rookie League affiliate in 2013.

Across the board, 2013 was a rousing success for Bryant, making them an easy choice for the Division I Most Valuable Program.  In Smithfield, this was a year on which great traditions are built. 

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After falling in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship East Regional in each of the last two seasons, the Ravens earned the regional crown in 2013, claiming the title after qualifying for the tournament as the East Region's sixth and final seed. In all, the squad posted a 37-19 record, the eighth straight campaign of at least 35 victories, with a 22-6 Northeast-10 mark, winning at least 20 Conference games for the eighth time in 10 years. Their 15-6 Northeast Division record was good for the outright title in the division, though the Ravens were bounced from the first round of the Northeast-10 Championship before backing into the East Regional. 

During regional play at Southern New Hampshire's Penmen Field, the Ravens dropped a game to New Haven on Friday before winning three straight games while facing elimination over Saturday and Sunday to take home the crown. Trevor Graham made a relief appearance two days after throwing a complete game, and Kevin McGowan threw the first two innings of the title game on just 26 hours' rest, putting together a pair of individual pitching performances which will not soon be forgotten.

For Graham, who fired eight shutout innings in his start at the National Finals, the postseason capped yet another hardware-filled pitching season in program annals, as he earned consensus East Region Pitcher of the Year honors, on his way to a consensus All-America selection, which included a First Team nod from Daktronics. Graham also became the eighth Raven pitcher to earn conference Pitcher of the Year honors, and the seventh in the Northeast-10. Four players earned All-East Region honors from one organization or another, with Graham, Dan Kemp and Zach Mathieu picking up consensus All-East Region selections, and Nick LaCroix collecting his third career All-East Region nod. LaCroix completed his collegiate career as a four-time All-Northeast-10 Conference selection with Second Team accolades in 2013.

After being shut out a year ago, Franklin Pierce returned as a mainstay at the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in 2013, with the most successful draft in program history. Trevor Graham (Sebastian, Fla.) was the first player to come off the board, as he was taken by the Chicago Cubs in the 13th round (378 overall) to become the 13th player in program history taken inside the top 15 rounds of the MLB Draft. Just eight selections later, and still in the 13th round (386 overall), the New York Mets took junior right-hander Kevin McGowan (Nashua, N.H.). This was the first time since 2007 the Ravens saw multiple players taken in the first 15 rounds, but the next pick made it a program high-water mark, as sophomore left-hander Steve Hathaway (Acton, Mass.) was taken in the 14th round (420 overall) by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Two rounds later, Franklin Pierce capped its day, as the Mets came calling again in the 16th round (476 overall) to take junior first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.).  On the field and in the draft room, 2013 was a smashing success for coach Jayson King and his Ravens program.

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Southern Maine head coach Ed Flaherty is used to good years and success.  In his 28 seasons at the helm of USM, Flaherty has won almost 69% of his games.  Coming into this season, the father of Baltimore Oriole Ryan Flaherty had guided USM to six College World Series, mocking the myth that cold weather schools can’t compete in baseball.

But even he had to appreciate how special 2013 turned out to be.

Big things were expected right from the start of the year.  After opening 6-3, USM ran off a 19-game win streak from March 25th to April 20th.  The Huskies scored at least seven runs in all but two of those games, averaging nearly 12 runs a contest during the streak.  USM finished the year with a team slugging percentage of .502, fourth best in the country.  

Southern Maine went 46-10, ending the year as the Division III national runners-up.  Senior OF Tucker White was named the ABCA and d3baseball.com National Player of the Year.  White was joined on the All-American squad by 3B Nick Grady and pitcher Logan Carman.  It was the first time USM put three players on an All-American team in one season.

Naturally, Southern Maine closed the regular season sweeping the Little East Conference Awards.  The 10 Huskies selected to All-Conference teams were a record.  White shared Conference Player of the Year honors.  Flaherty picked up Coach of the Year for the seventh time while Carman was named the Pitcher of the Year.  White posted an OPS of 1.300 during the regular season.  Carman had a 2.03 ERA in his 11 starts.

The Huskies swept their way to a Little East Tournament win, marking the second straight year where Flaherty’s charges won the Conference championship.  That earned Southern Maine not just a bid in the NCAA Tournament, but also a top seed.

USM’s program record 40th win was the victory that got them into the championship round of the College World Series.  Huskie hurlers threw two shutouts in their four prior post-season games to get there.

Facing Endicott in a do-or-die game in the New England Regional- the Gulls had beaten USM days earlier- freshman Sam Dexter clubbed a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to break open a 2-2 tie and give the Huskies the victory.  Sophomore RHP Andrew Richards turned in an incredible several hours, throwing a five hit shutout earlier in the Saturday to force the Endicott game, and then allowing just one Gull run in 5.2 innings to get his second “W” of the day.

The next Sunday, USM clinched the New England Regional when Carman shut out Endicott.  From there, USM earned a trip to Appleton, WI and the College World Series finals.

The Huskies played gallantly, winning three elimination games en route to the national title game.  The most dramatic was a 13-inning classic over Ithaca that ended with junior Chris Bernard’s walk-off triple.

USM ended up placing six players on the ECAC All-Star team.  They were also honored by the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox’ Double-A affiliate, for their outstanding 2013.

For their “dogged” determination, the Southern Maine Huskies are easy winners of the 2013 Division III Most Valuable Program Award.