Home NEC 2018 Northeast Conference Poll Released

2018 Northeast Conference Poll Released

by Brian Foley
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SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team has been chosen as the preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference for the sixth-straight year by league coaches, the league office announced on Friday.

The Bulldogs received four of a possible seven first-place votes to take the top billing. Defending league champion Central Connecticut received the final three first-place votes. Sacred Heart, Wagner, LIU Brooklyn, Fairleigh Dickinson and Mount St. Mary’s round out the poll.

Led by the return of all three NEC major award winners, the Black and Gold welcome back all but two position starters and all but one pitcher to a team that won its sixth-straight NEC Regular-Season title in 2017. Bryant’s string of six-consecutive regular-season titles in the longest such streak in the country.

Senior Mickey Gasper (Merrimack, N.H.) became the first junior to win NEC Player of the Year honors since 2009, while junior Steve Theetge (Syracuse, N.Y.) became the fourth-straight Bryant pitcher to earn pitcher of the year honors. Sophomore Jimmy Titus (Stafford, Conn.) was named the NEC Rookie of the Year last spring, the sixth-straight season a Bulldog has won the award.

The Bulldogs have put together an impressive 177-54 (.766) record against NEC opponents since playing a full a league schedule in 2010. Bryant has won 20+ league games five times and set an NEC record with 27 league victories in 2013.

Bryant opens the 2018 season on Feb. 16 when it travels to Arizona for a three-game series with the Wildcats.

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