The biggest stories heading into the Division 3 college baseball season

Southern Maine senior Ben Lambert (Saco, Maine) was 10-1 with a 1.38 ERA last spring. (Bryan Klabik)

Two of New England’s Division 3 teams advanced to the College World Series for the second time in three years last spring, but Babson and UMass Boston don’t enter 2020 riding the highest in our region. According to the early national rankings, that honor belongs to the Beacons’ chief rivals in the Little East Conference.

After seven New England teams reached the 30-win plateau last year, the region looks strong once again with Little East, NESCAC and NEWMAC clubs among those garnering significant preseason attention. Some usual suspects have started all the talk over the last several seasons, though, with Babson leading the way following its most recent 39-win campaign and first-ever World Series trip. 

Boston’s nine graduating seniors spearheaded the first three-peat in Little East history and brought the program to four NCAA tournaments and two regional championships. To make their most recent appearance, the Beacons had to knock off last year’s Super Regional underdogs from New England College.

NEBJ will release its own top-10 poll of the region’s coaches, All-New England squad and much more prior to the start of the spring, but we first take a look at some early names and notes to watch throughout our robust D3 ranks in 2020: