NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State University baseball team and its three MEAC counterparts will join the Northeast Conference as associate members beginning with the 2022-23 school year, it was announced on Tuesday.

The baseball programs from NSU, Delaware State, Maryland Eastern Shore and Coppin State will compete in the new-look 11-team NEC this coming year after a partnership was announced Tuesday between the two conferences. The move allows Spartan baseball to continue competing for NCAA postseason opportunities.

The partnership also includes MEAC men's and women's golf programs competing as associate members of the NEC.

"We are excited about our baseball team joining the NEC as an associate member," NSU Director of Athletics Melody Webb said. "This is a great opportunity for Norfolk State University as we continue to compete for a postseason berth while maintaining some old MEAC rivalries. The associate membership provides a new landscape to compete against seven new competitive programs and will only strengthen our baseball program moving forward."

"I like challenges, as do my players. It will be an honor to compete against the other 10 outstanding baseball programs in the NEC," NSU head coach Keith Shumate said. "I'm thrilled that our program and young men will be receive such great increased exposure.

With the addition of the four MEAC schools, the NEC will now have 11 baseball-playing institutions. The other seven are: Fairleigh Dickinson (Teaneck, N.J.), Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.), Long Island (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Merrimack (North Andover, Mass.), Central Connecticut (New Britain, Conn.), Sacred Heart (Fairfield, Conn.) and Stonehill (North Easton, Mass.).

LIU won the 2022 NEC baseball championship. NSU has never faced LIU, Merrimack or Stonehill previously on the diamond, but is a collective 7-10 against the other four long-time NEC programs.

The Spartans won one MEAC baseball title in its history, that coming in 2021 – the last year in which eight teams competed in the conference race.

NSU remains committed to the MEAC for its other 14 intercollegiate sports programs.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 42nd season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.