The Merrimack Warriors baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, United States. The team competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I and is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
History The Merrimack baseball program was started in 1980. They joined the Northeast-10 Conference in 1985. While the first few seasons were dismal, the 1988 season saw the team go 9-7 in the NE-10 and 24-15 overall but they finished it off with a win in the ECAC North tournament.https://ecacsports.com/sports/2016/5/21/sports-bsb-Championships-PastChampionsIII.aspx This was their first winning season since their inaugural season. They would follow this up next season by going 19-17-2 overall and winning their second straight ECAC North tournament title.
Under head coach Ed Morrison, the Warriors won the NE10 tournament in 1990 as the 4th seed to clinch their first NE-10 title and reach the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in program history. Morrison left after the 1992 season and was replaced by Barry Rosen. The Warriors won the regular season title four straight years from 1994 to 1997, with a ECAC title occurring in 1995 to go along with NE-10 tournament championships in 1995 and 1996. They reached the NCAA Tournament in 1996 for the second time in program history. The 1999 team won their fifth regular season title and despite losing in the tournament final, they received an invite to the NCAA Tournament.
The team did not make a major run again until 2013, when they went 30-19 and made it to the NE10 championship final, losing to New Haven. The 2018 team beat New Haven to win the NE-10 title and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly two decades. In 2020, the Warriors joined NCAA Division I with the Northeast Conference. Their season was cut short after going 6–9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, their first full season as a D-I program, they went 19–22. The 2024 team had their first winning season as a D-I program at 33–26 and advanced to their first NEC tournament and made it to the Semifinals before losing to Long Island.
In 2025, the Warriors joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.https://www.merrimack.edu/news/merrimack-college-accepts-invitation-to-join-metro-atlantic-athletic-conference/
Head coaches YearsCoachOverall recordRegular season titlesConference titlesNCAA appearances1980-1980James Licciardi14-6-10001984-1992Ed Morrison111-174-10111993-2003Barry Rosen207-231-25222004-2010Joe Sarno118-1790002011-2014Jim Martin82-1000002015-2021Nick Barese153-1300112022-2026Brian Murphy114–150–2000 source Merrimack season records https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/merrimack.sidearmsports.com/documents/2017/7/27/Baseball_Year_by_Year_Results.pdf
Conference Memberships
1985-2019: Northeast10 2020-2024: Northeast Conference 2025-Present: Metro Athletic Conference
Player/Coaches Awards
NEC Rookie of the year Dawson Bryce (2024)
ECAC Rookie of the year Dawson Bryce (2024)
NE10 Player of the year Source: NE10 baseball archives https://northeast10.org/documents/2025/1/31//Baseball_Record_Book_2023_24_2.pdf Jerry Parent (1995) Casey Cotter (2013) Frank Crinella (2014) Joey Porricelli (2019)
NE10 Rookie of the year George Evangelista (1988) Jamie Newell (1992) Frank Crinella (2013)
Bob Bellizzi NE10 Coach of the Year award Ed Morrison (1988,1990)
All Americans
David Miles (1992) (A)
Jerry Parent (1995) Chris MacDonald (1995, 1996) (A) Garret Larkin (1996) David Melchionda (1997) Joe Mantoni (2013) (A) Casey Cotter (2013) Frank Crinella (2014) Matthew Ronai (2018) (A) Joey Porricelli (2019) (A) Thomas Joyce (2020) (A)
Merrimack Athletics hall of fame The following is a list of people associated with the Merrimack men's Baseball program who were elected into the Merrimack college Athletic Hall of Fame (induction date in parentheses)
James Licciardi (1993) Donald Weinbach (1993) Ryan P. O'Rourke (2019) Jeff Bercume (2022)
Warriors drafted to the MLB PlayerPositionDraft yearRound TeamFrank CrinellaINF 201539thBaltimore OriolesJoe MantoniPitcher 201318thCincinnati RedsRyan O'RourkePitcher201013thMinnesota TwinsJohn GuilmetPitcher199734thDetroit TigersGarrett Larkin3rd base199619thPittsburgh PiratesJerry ParentOut Fielder199531stMilwaukee Brewers George Evangelista3rd Base199047thTexas Rangers
Postseason Results
Division II Merrimack has participated in the NCAA Division II baseball tournament four times. YearRound Opponents Result 1990First Round Sacred Heart New HavenL 10-6 L 19-21996First Round Second Round Adelphi New Haven AdelphiL 8-2 W 2-1 L 9-21999First Round Second Round UMass Lowell Adelphi Umass LowellW 3-1 L 7-6 L 12-2 2018First Round Le Moyne Wilmington L 3-2 L 10-5 ECAC Tournament The warriors appeared in the ECAC tournament 3 times and were victorious all 3 times. YearCoachOverall recordResult 1988Ed Morrison 24-15Champions 1989Ed Morrison 19-17-1Champions1995Barry Rosen28-13Champions
References
External links Warrior Baseball Diamond