BALTIMORE – Coppin State's baseball team will be joining the Northeast Conference (NEC) as an associate member beginning with the 2023 season, it was announced today by the league office.
"We are thrilled to announce this associate member partnership with the MEAC baseball, women's golf and men's golf programs," said NEC Commissioner
Noreen Morris. "This is a win-win relationship for both conferences and places the student-athlete experience at the forefront. On behalf of the NEC Presidents and Athletic Administrators, we welcome these MEAC programs to the NEC family."
The Eagles are one of four baseball teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), which will no longer sponsor the sport, to join the NEC along with Delaware State, Maryland Eastern Shore and Norfolk State. The addition of the four associate members will give the Northeast Conference 11 baseball teams with Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island University, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Stonehill and Wagner as fulltime members. This past season, LIU won the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
"The MEAC and NEC baseball merger is going to be an exciting opportunity for all member schools to compete against different programs in new markets," said Coppin State head coach
Sherman Reed, who is the winningest coach in school-history and just completed his 12
th season as the program's head coach. "When we announced the possibility of this move to our guys, they were overwhelmingly excited. The geographical layout of the two conferences makes for very manageable travel and we look forward to our new journey."
Coppin started its NCAA Division I baseball program in 1984 and had its best season in school-history in 2022, matching a school-record with 24 victories, winning its first MEAC Championship in 27 years and qualifying for its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance.
Jordan Hamberg, a finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year, was named the MEAC Pitcher of the Year and was the program's first-ever All-Region and All-America selection.
"We are thrilled to be joining the NEC in the sport of baseball," said Coppin State Director of Athletics
Derek Carter. "The value of this move allows each MEAC baseball playing institution to continue our rivalries while also establishing new competition partners."
Led by Hamberg, who earned First Team All-MEAC honors at both starting pitcher and utility, Coppin put nine players on the league's First Team. Freshman
Josh Hankins was honored as the conference's Rookie of the Year, and junior
Brian Nicolas was the Most Outstanding Performer of the MEAC Tournament.
Over the last five seasons, the Eagles have enjoyed unprecedented success with 20 wins in three of those years as well as a regular season title in 2018. During that stretch, Coppin has placed 27 players on All-Conference Teams.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 42nd season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.
