New Bedford Bay Sox Dropped from NECBL

The crack of wooden bats have filled Paul Walsh Field in New Bedford on many summer nights for more than a decade, but that may soon be a thing of the past.

For the past 11 seasons, the New Bedford Bay Sox have brought elite collegiate players to the Whaling City, but they were dropped by their league last week, according to league sources.

The New England Collegiate Baseball League announced a change last week that will affect the future of the New Bedford Bay Sox. In a press release posted on its website, the league touts the expansion of the league into Bristol, Connecticut for the 2020 baseball season.

"The league’s latest addition is a familiar destination, as the New England League will return to Bristol, Connecticut, with the addition of the Bristol Blues for the 2020 season, as announced Thursday by league commissioner Sean McGrath," the release said.

While there is no specific mention of the New Bedford Bay Sox in the press release for the new team, the announcement states that there will still be 13 teams in the league.

"The Blues will be slotted in the Southern Division with Danbury, Martha’s Vineyard, Mystic, Newport and Ocean State. With the league remaining at 13 teams, a 44-game schedule will still be utilized," according to the release.

The Bay Sox had played in the Southern Division for the 11 years they had been in the league. Prior to becoming the New Bedford Bay Sox, the team had been a Connecticut franchise, the Torrington Twisters and starred newly-crowned World Series champ Stephen Strasburg.

The Bay Sox and their opponents had featured some of the best collegiate talent in the nation. Over 150 players in the league have had an opportunity to play Major League Baseball, according to the NECBL site.

There's no word from the Bay Sox about whether they'll try to join a different collegiate summer baseball league.