Baseball set to open postseason play on Thursday under the lights
The Northern Essex Community College baseball team, currently ranked 9th in the latest NJCAA national poll will open up the postseason on Thursday as the top seed in the Region 21 when they host fourth seeded Bunker Hill. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00pm at Trinity Stadium.
Haverhill, MA (May 7, 2025) – The Northern Essex Community College baseball team, currently ranked 9th in the latest NJCAA national poll will open up the postseason on Thursday as the top seed in the Region 21 when they host fourth seeded Bunker Hill. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00pm at Trinity Stadium.
The Knights will be looking for their fourth consecutive regional title as they begin a quest to make the programs 11th all-time World Series appearance. Community College of Rhode Island will enter the tournament seeded second and will host third seeded Massasoit in Thursdays other first round matchup. Winners and losers bracket games are set for Saturday with a champion to be crowned on either Sunday or Monday. Due to pending weather, the weekend schedule and locations have changed, full schedule is below
The double elimination tournament is set to conclude on Sunday, with the tournament winner advancing to the Northeast District Championship best of three series to be played in New York at the winner of the Region 15 tournament beginning on Friday May 16th.
Heading into the tournament, the Knights are led offensively by Manny Castro (Manchester, NH) who is batting .467 with 49 hits in 107 at-bats including 21 extra base hits and 44 RBIs. Anthony Marino (Lynn) and Jaren Megan (Fairhaven) join Castro batting over .400 with marks of .433 and .430 respectively. The trio has combined for 97 stolen bases on the season.
On the mound, the Knights feature a plethora of arms at their disposal including the top three ERA's in the region Eric Bridges (Saugus), Larsen Burch (Painting Post, NY) and Jake Kelleher (Haverhill) who enter the post-season with 1.01, 1.72 and 2.75 ERAs respectively. Enger Paulino (Dudley) has been a shutdown arm coming out of the bullpen with 26 strikeouts in 20 innings of work.
Region 21 Tournament Schedule (updated May 7th)
Thursday May 8th
Game 1: #1 Northern Essex vs. #4 Bunker Hill 7:00pm (Haverhill Stadium)
Game 2: #2 CC Rhode Island vs. #3 Massasoit 2:30pm (Bill Beck Stadium – URI)
Saturday May 10th
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2 12:00pm (Pentucket Regional HS)
Game 4: Winner of Game vs Winner of Game 2 5:30pm (Haverhill Stadium)
Sunday May 11th
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4 12:00pm (Campanelli Stadium - Brockton)
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5 3:00pm (Campanelli Stadium – Brockton)
Monday May 12th
Game 7: If Necessary TBD