America East Baseball News and Notes: 2026 Preseason Outlook

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On Wednesday afternoon, the America East held its preseason baseball media day to kick off the 2026 campaign. League coaches released their preseason polls and All-Conference team, with the season set to begin three weeks from this coming Friday. Last year’s tournament winner, the Binghamton Bearcats, has been named the team to beat this spring. The university will also serve as the host site for the conference tournament this May.

The Favorites: Binghamton and Bryant

The Bearcats finished the 2025 season with a 29–26 overall record, going 13–11 in league play. During the conference tournament in Maine, Binghamton’s offense was the story of the early rounds, exploding for 50 runs in the three games leading up to the finals. In the championship round against Bryant, the Bearcats dropped game one 7–3 but rallied in game two to win 6–5 in 11 innings, securing the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Binghamton earned three first-place votes and 32 points in this year’s poll. They placed two players on the Preseason All-Conference team: SP Hayden Tarsia and OF Matt Bolton.

Bryant University enters the season as the primary challenger after a stellar 2025 regular season. A 36–19–1 record had the Bulldogs eyeing back-to-back tournament appearances, and their 18–6 league record secured their second consecutive regular-season championship. The Bulldogs also received three first-place votes and 30 points overall. Bryant is represented by three players on the All-Conference team: 2B Zac Zyons, DH Brandyn Durand, and SP Michael Belcher.

The Middle of the Pack

The final first-place vote went to the UAlbany Great Danes, a notable nod after they went 22–34 overall and 10–14 in league play last year. Picked to finish fourth this season with 21 points, UAlbany landed Catcher Levi McAllister and SP Dylan Banner—regarded as one of the best arms in the league—on the All-Conference team.

The Maine Black Bears finished last year 20–31 (13–11 in AE). As usual, they will navigate a grueling non-conference schedule, starting with a four-game series at Duke. Despite being picked fifth with 19 points and receiving no first-place votes, Maine leads the league with four All-Conference selections: SS Chris Bear, OF Brady Rasmussen, and starting pitchers Gianni Gambardella and Sebastian Holt. If these selections hold true, Maine will be a dangerous team come May.

NJIT is coming off a solid 2025 campaign, finishing 27–26 overall and 14–10 in the league. The Highlanders are picked to finish third with 26 points and feature three All-Conference players: 1B Dillon Cain, OF Ty Salle, and UTIL Austin Francis.

Fighting for a Tournament Spot

UMass Lowell and UMBC round out the preseason poll. Since only the top six teams qualify for the tournament in Binghamton, these two are fighting to avoid the bottom of the standings.

UMass Lowell (6th, 11 points): The River Hawks are led by OF Carlos Martinez, their lone All-Conference representative. They face an ambitious non-conference slate, including a two-week California trip to play Pepperdine, Sacramento State, and San Francisco.
UMBC (7th, 8 points): Picked last, the Retrievers must replace key contributors in pitcher Nick Remy and 1B Leewood Molessa. 3B Anthony Mascuilli is their All-Conference representative. After an 18–28 season, they look ahead to high-profile matchups against Georgetown and a home date with Maryland on April 7.