The summer collegiate baseball season concluded with three straight days of championship clinchers around New England this past weekend. Monday saw the Harwich Mariners complete a run to their first Cape Cod League title since 2011, toppling the two-time defending champion Bourne Braves in a three-game series.
Led by former Boston College and Northeastern assistant coach Steve Englert (West Roxbury, Mass.), Harwich’s New England-heavy club overcame a 2-17 start to July and won the crown after clinching its playoff berth as the No. 3 seed in the East Division on the final day of the regular season.
On Saturday and Sunday, respectively, both the NECBL and Futures League champions went back-to-back on the strength of walk-off victories. The Newport Gulls bested the Sanford Mainers in three games to win their record eighth Fay Vincent Cup in the NECBL, while the Futures League was won by the first-place Norwich Sea Unicorns in a series sweep of the Westfield Starfires.
Our final in-season watch list of the summer includes top contributors to each of the region’s three championship-winning clubs:
