2002 Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament

The 2002 Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament began on May 17 and ended on May 19, 2002, at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, New Jersey. The league's top four teams competed in the double elimination tournament. Third-seeded Central Connecticut won their first of three consecutive tournament championships and earned the Northeast Conference's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.[1]

2002 Northeast Conference
Baseball Tournament

Teams	4
Format	Double-elimination tournament
Finals site	FirstEnergy Park Lakewood, NJ
Champions	Central Connecticut (1st title)
Winning coach	Charlie Hickey (1st title)
MVP	Kevin Rival, Central Connecticut

2002 Northeast Conference baseball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Monmouth  ‍†‍‍	23	–	4		.852			30	–	21		.588
UMBC  ‍‍‍	20	–	7		.741			32	–	24		.571
Central Connecticut  ‍‍‡‍^y	18	–	9		.667			34	–	23		.596
St. Francis  ‍‍‍	17	–	10		.630			22	–	24		.478
Sacred Heart  ‍‍‍	14	–	13		.519			20	–	27		.426
Mount St. Mary's  ‍‍‍	10	–	16		.385			17	–	35		.327
Quinnipiac  ‍‍‍	9	–	18		.333			12	–	30		.286
Long Island  ‍‍‍	8	–	19		.296			11	–	33		.250
Wagner  ‍‍‍	8	–	19		.296			10	–	39		.204
Fairleigh Dickinson  ‍‍‍	7	–	19		.269			9	–	35		.205
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Seeding and format

The top four finishers were seeded one through four based on conference regular season winning percentage.

Team	Wins	Losses	Pct.	GB	Seed
Monmouth	23	4	.852	—	1
UMBC	20	7	.741	3	2
Central Connecticut	18	9	.667	5	3
St. Francis	17	10	.630	6	4
Sacred Heart	14	13	.519	9	—
Mount St. Mary's	10	16	.385	12.5	—
Quinnipiac	9	18	.333	14	—
Long Island	8	19	.296	15	—
Wagner	8	19	.296	15	—
Fairleigh Dickinson	7	19	.269	16	—

Bracket

	First Round					Semi-Finals					Finals
	1	Monmouth	3
	4	St. Francis	2
						1	Monmouth	5
						3	Central Connecticut	7
	3	Central Connecticut	5
	2	UMBC	3
											3	Central Connecticut	11	—
										2	UMBC	2	—
	4	St. Francis	0
	2	UMBC	1
						1	Monmouth	2
						2	UMBC	8

Most Valuable Player

Kevin Rival of Central Connecticut was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Rival earned a win in the Blue Devils' opener against UMBC, and a save against Monmouth while also batting .300 with two doubles and three RBI for the tournament.[1]

References

1. "2002 NEC Baseball Tournament Headquarters". Northeast Conference. May 19, 2002. Retrieved August 26, 2018.