The Martha's Vineyard Sharks is a
collegiate summer baseball team based on
Martha's Vineyard. It was a charter member of the
Futures Collegiate Baseball League
The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is an eight-team collegiate summer baseball league. It has four franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Format
The Futures League is a wood-bat ...
(FCBL), a wood-bat league comprising 7 teams from
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
to western
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
. They played in the futures league from 2010 to 2018 before switching to the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where they began playing in the league in 2019. In 2019 the Sharks posted the best regular season record in the league and won best of 3 series with Newport Gulls to win Southern Division. Ultimately losing 2-0 in the Championship versus Keene Swampbats. The team’s mascot is a likely reference to the film
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
, which was shot on Martha's Vineyard and made it a popular tourist destination.
The team's home games are played at Vineyard Baseball Park, located on the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School or MVRHS is a high school in Oak Bluffs on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States.
History
MVRHS opened in September 1959. It is the larger of the two high schools located on Martha' ...
campus in
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Oak Bluffs is a town located on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,341 at the 2020 United States Census. It is one of the island's principal points of arrival for summer tourists ...
, where $200,000 has been invested in field upgrades and construction of a field house, public Restrooms and a pro style backstop with netting and brick facade.
History
The Sharks began operations in the 2011 FCBL season. The Carminucci Sports Group sought to place a
New England Collegiate Baseball League
The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...
(NECBL) franchise on Martha's Vineyard, but the NECBL declined to expand, so the Sharks and the organizers of the
Nashua Silver Knights
The Nashua Silver Knights is a collegiate summer baseball team based in Nashua, New Hampshire. It is a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with a 64-game regular season comprising eight teams rangin ...
formed a separate league.
Opening Day attendance was 2,139. The Sharks were in 1st place for a majority of the season, before injuries and a team-wide virus. They completed the season at 23-20, in 3rd place. The Sharks won their first FCBL Championship in 2013 and shared the title in 2018.
The Sharks moved to the NECBL in 2019 and posted the best regular season record, including a 12-game win streak. In the postseason, the Sharks won a best of 3 series over the Newport Gulls. Ultimately, the Sharks lost 2 straight to league Champion Keene Swampbats. The Sharks broke a single game attendance record with 3,567 fans in attendance on the last regular season home game of the season.2022 went 5-0 in playoffs to win their first NECBL league Championship. Hosted the 2022 all star game with attendance exceeding 5k fans.
Field Staff
;Head Coach:Billy Uberti
;Assistant Coaches
:Mac Curran
:Collin Shapiro
References
External links
Martha's Vineyard Sharks official siteNECBL official site
Amateur baseball teams in Massachusetts
New England Collegiate Baseball League teams
Futures Collegiate Baseball League teams
Martha's Vineyard
Baseball teams established in 2010
2010 establishments in Massachusetts
{{Massachusetts-baseball-team-stub