BOSTON – Approaching baseball action for the first time in nearly a year, the conference announced the 2021 preseason coaches’ poll on Thursday. The Stony Brook Seawolves – winners of the most recent championship – were tabbed the favorite by the league’s head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own team.
The Seawolves were the fourth team out of the past five champions to win the regular season before advancing to the NCAA Championship. Three programs received a first-place vote in a close top-third of the standings, each of which has won a championship within the last four tournaments. The Seawolves topped the list with six first-place votes and a total of 46 points. Binghamton and Hartford each received one first-place vote for a total of 41 points.
Here is the full poll:
2021 America East Baseball Preseason Poll
No. School Points (1st Place Votes)
- Stony Brook 46 (6)
- Binghamton 41 (1)
Hartford 41 (1) - UAlbany 27
- UMass Lowell 24
- NJIT 20
- UMBC 13
- Maine 12
2018 Pitcher of the Year Nicholas Dombkowski (Hartford) headlines the group of top returnees which includes past All-Conference first teamers Alex Baratta (Binghamton), Chris Hamilton (Stony Brook) and Joe Kruszka (UAlbany).
This season will feature eight teams as NJIT comes into the fold. Maine, UMass Lowell and Stony Brook are scheduled to begin the season the weekend of Feb. 26. Conference play is scheduled to begin March 20 and will include four-game weekend series consisting of Saturday-Sunday doubleheaders with the first game lasting seven innings and a full nine being played for the second. Two divisions have been created for this season and each team will play two series against its division rivals with one cross-division series for each remaining opponent. Due to COVID-19 schedules are subject to change.
The top four teams will qualify for the America East Baseball Championship which is scheduled to be held by the highest seed May 27-30. The champion earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. In 2012, #AEBASE champion Stony Brook advanced all the way to the College World Series.
