Brandan Sencaj hit .289 with an .886 OPS for the Sanford Mainers. (Bentley Athletics)
With the month of August upon us, it is just about playoff time across New England’s summer collegiate baseball scene.
The NECBL is the first league to reach the “second season,” as the path to a championship and hoisting the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup begins Friday night for eight of the 13 teams. For the first time since 1999, a team will be looking to do just that for the third consecutive summer.
The Newport Gulls have won back-to-back titles and will enter this postseason run as a No. 1 seed again, this time coming out of the reconfigured South Division. Overall, the league is led by a 32-win team in the Keene SwampBats.
NEBJ’s latest summer collegiate watch list shines a spotlight on one local player from each of the postseason teams in the New England League:
![Auburn’s Butch Thompson, D1Baseball’s Joe Healy [Sidearm Delivery] • D1Baseball](https://i3.wp.com/cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/05/14101128/Sidearm-Delivery-Butch-Thompson-Web.png?ssl=1 "Auburn’s Butch Thompson, D1Baseball’s Joe Healy [Sidearm Delivery] • D1Baseball")
![WVU Sweeps KU, UGA Mashing, Roch Talk, and Beavs Reach 40 [D1 Daily] • D1Baseball](https://i1.wp.com/cdn.d1baseball.com/uploads/2026/05/11132101/D1D-0511-WEB.png?ssl=1 "WVU Sweeps KU, UGA Mashing, Roch Talk, and Beavs Reach 40 [D1 Daily] • D1Baseball")
