The North Atlantic Conference and North Eastern Athletic Conference have entered into a partnership by way of extending associate memberships in baseball and other selected sports. The NEAC will gain associate members in the sports of baseball and women's tennis, while the NAC will accept members for men's tennis and women's lacrosse.

The partnership, which impacts nearly all of the current NEAC and NAC membership, maintains conference championship opportunities for student-athletes in both geographically diverse conferences. Independently, neither conference would have been able to get an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs in those sports and this partnership makes this possible.

"We are very pleased with this association and opportunity for our student-athletes," said Maine-Farmington athletic director Julie Davis. "Essentially the agreement is a very positive outcome of creative thinking, problem solving and consensus building on the part of our respective commissioners. The result is improved opportunity for our student-athletes and coaches that is true to our mission. Beyond equity, it keeps the travel in balance with our academic schedules and economic realities. It really is a win-win."

In baseball, Farmington and fellow NAC members Castleton, Husson, Lyndon State and Thomas will join the NEAC as associate members. Divisional play will begin in the spring of 2010. Each division will hold a championship and the two divisional champions will meet for a three game series to determine the conference champion. The conference championship site will rotate between the West (hosted at either SUNY Cobleskill or SUNYIT) and the East (hosted by Castleton). The NEAC will maintain the automatic qualifier they currently hold to the NCAA Division III Championship.

"We're very excited," said Farmington baseball coach Dick Meader. "It solidifies that the conference has an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. It's certainly something for players in our conference to look forward to."