The Buccaneers baseball team, the MASCAC runner-up in the 2022 season, are gearing up for the 2023 season with a lot of familiar faces returning to the squad for Coach Head Coach Mike Kelley's eighth season at the helm.

In 2022, the Buccaneers finished the regular season with 25-17 overall, 14-7 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Conference which was good for a third place regular season finish behind eventual Conference Champions Bridgewater State and Westfield State.

The Bucs had posted a 14-5 at home and had notable conference series wins over Framingham, Westfield, and Salem, and sweeps of Fitchburg and MCLA which prepared them for a MASCAC playoff run.

Maritime was slotted into the second seed in the conference until the final weekend when they were overtaken by the Owls. With their third seed placing in the regular season, Coach Kelley's squad traveled to Westfield State for the first round of the playoffs against Framingham State. Knocking off the Rams 7-0 the Buccaneers had to knock off the first round hosts in Westfield State who they had beaten 2-1 in the regular season series. Though it took 10 innings, the Bucs ousted the Owls by a final of 6-5 to progress to the weekend portion of the tournament in Bridgewater. In their first game against Bridgewater, Maritime was doubled up by the bears 14-7 and relegated to the losers bracket against Salem State. With a 6-3 victory over the Vikings the Bucs earned a ticket to the Championship round against Bridgewater State. Against one of the two conference teams they lost a series to in the regular season, the Buccaneers fell to the Bears 7-4 to finish second in the conference. 

One of the Bucs best seasons under Kelley was rewarded with a handful of post season awards including Brodey Tinkham's selection as MASCAC Pitcher of the Year. Tinkham is the first pitcher in Maritime baseball program history to win the Pitcher of the Year Award. Along with the POTY award, Brodey was named to the MASCAC's All-Conference First Team along with three of his teammates. Infielders Brett Velzis and Zach Sylvia and freshman closer Brendan Baiardi all received first team accolades for their season-long performances. Baiardi was tied for the league lead in saves with seven and was one of two freshmen in the conference as a whole to make the first team. 

Outfielder Alex Schlapak and designated hitter Aidan Henderson were honored by the conference with Second Team All-Conference selections. 

Now that 2022 is in the rearview, the Bucs come into 2023 with a similar look to last season. Five of the team's six All-MASCAC selections are returning for 2023; there are a total of 22 players returning for the upcoming season including seven starters, the entire starting rotation and all but one relief pitcher. Nine freshmen join Kelley's team from as close as Bridgewater, Massachusetts to as far as Clinton, Tennessee.

The Buccaneers schedule features 39 games including 21 conference games against MASCAC Opponents with a single nine-inning game on the first day of the series and a seven-inning double headers on the second day. The team will begin their season in Fort Pierce, Florida in late February with an exhibition game against United International College and a doubleheader against NAIA's Ave Maria, a team the Bucs tangled with in 2022. 

When the team returns north, they will play their home opener on Saturday, March 4th against Colby-Sawyer in a double header at Commodore Hendy Field. Other notable non-conference opponents include Nichols, Coast Guard, Clark, Western New England, and perennial NCAA Regional Tournament participant Mitchell College, to name a few.

The team will begin their conference slate on Friday, March 31st against Framingham State on the Road. The regular season will conclude with a conference series against Worcester State on May 5th and 6th. 

"We're looking forward to the 2023 season and what we can bring to the table in the conference this year. We had a good year last year and our goal now is to win the conference," said head coach Mike Kelley. "We've got an experienced yet young team that is ready to get back out on the field."

For all things Buc Ball go to mmabucs.com. There you'll find the team's schedule, roster, statistics and much more. Be sure to follow the Bucs at @maritime_bucs on all platforms and follow Buccaneers Baseball at @bucs_base on Twitter and Instagram.