It takes a special college baseball player to thrive in New England. Many New England coaches refer to those players as "Northeast Tough".
That toughness takes shape when the season starts with a month of away games in warmer regions of the country, as the snow melts on New England campuses. March and April are filled with cold, windy home games as players start to question why they didn't venture south for greener pastures.
As the calendar turns to June, though, the players and teams that were hardened by the experience of playing college baseball in New England are often still standing. New England players are represented on 17 of the 64 teams in the NCAA D1 tournament, including four programs based in New England. UConn, Northeastern, Central Connecticut State University and Fairfield are now ready to represent New England as the region's four participants in the NCAA D1 tournament, which starts June 4.
We selected one player who embodies the "New England tough" spirit from each of the four New England teams in the D1 tournament.
