Nick Barese enters his 10th year at Merrimack College and his seventh as head baseball coach in 2020-21. He owns a 134-107 career record (.545) entering the 2021 season.
The 2019 season saw Barese guide the Warriors back to the Northeast-10 Conference Championship game, its ninth-ever appearance in the title bout in school history. Barese's Warriors won 28 games in total, moving the head coach into second place in school history in career victories (128). The 128 games that Merrimack has won over the last five years is the most of any five-year period in Merrimack history. Barese also saw seven players earn all-conference selections in 2019, with Joey Porricelli and Cam Monagle leading the way with first-team selections. The duo also received three all-region nods apiece, with Porricelli becoming the second All-American of Barese's tenure and 10th in school history. He was also crowned NE10 Co-Player of the Year.
Academically, it was also another banner year for the program. The team boasted a team GPA of over a 3.0 and 20 individuals finished the spring semester with a GPA of at least a 3.0. The team saw four different players receive Academic All-District honors, which was the most of any team in the district. Merrimack was the lone program with multiple all-district honors.
Building the program up since his first season as the head man in 2015, Barese capped off a run of four straight postseason appearances to start his tenure with a NE10 Championship in 2018, and the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It marked the program's first conference title of any kind since 1999 and first tournament crown since 1996. The victory delivered the program its fourth NE10 Tournament title overall.
The NCAA Tournament berth snapped a 19-year drought from the East Regional for the program, while Barese became just the third head coach in school history to guide the program to the national tourney. With the victory in the NE10 Championship over No. 7 New Haven, Barese notched his 100th career win, reaching the century mark quicker than any other coach in program annals.
The 2018 season will go down as one of the best years ever for the Merrimack baseball program, winning a school record 31 games, and registering just the third 30-win campaign ever. The Warriors won 13 of their first 15 games in April, catapulting the squad towards the postseason. Merrimack picked up a pair of wins against nationally ranked programs during the regular season, and three more during the NE10 Championship. The Warriors' dramatic playoff run began with a 5-3 win in 11 innings at Franklin Pierce, which saw Merrimack snap a three-game losing streak in the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Warriors appearance in NE10 Championship Weekend marked the first for the program since 2013. Barese guided the Warriors to four victories over five games, knocking out the host Southern New Hampshire Penmen in the losers bracket to reach the NE10 Championship on Saturday. Needing to defeat No. 7 New Haven twice, the program did just that behind a complete-game effort from PJ Browne followed by a collective effort in the title-claiming 10-8 triumph in the second tilt.
Barese saw the 2018 Warriors excel both on the field and in the classroom. Seven individual student-athletes earned various all-region, all-conference and academic all-league honors. Matthew Ronai headlined the group with an Academic All-American selection, while he joined Tyler Lyne and Matt Nicholson as all-region honorees from the ABCA, D2CCA and NCBWA. As a team, the Warriors won the Team GPA Award (3.214) by owning the highest collective GPA of any NE10 baseball program. Finally, in his four years as head coach, Barese helped developed lefty PJ Browne into one of the top pitchers in program history, resulting in a professional contract at seasons end with the Winnipeg Goldeyes.
The first three years of Barese's tenure (2015-17) saw the manager accumulate 69 total victories and a berth in the NE10 Championship in each campaign. The Warriors finished above .500 in both 2016 and 2017, while falling one game short (17-18) in 2015. Merrimack narrowly missed out on an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament in 2016, winning 29 games - the second most ever in school history at the time. Highlights of his first three years included the first nine-inning no-hitter in school history (2016) and five all-conference selections in each year.
Barese has worked with two of Merrimack's eight all-time MLB draft selections. He served as pitching coach in 2013, guiding Joe Mantoni to his 18th-round selection by the Cincinnati Reds. Following his first season as head coach, Frank Crinella went in the 39th round to the Baltimore Orioles.
During Barese's first four seasons as head coach, the Warriors have boasted 28 all-conference selections, 11 all-region performers and two All-Americans.
Barese is also in his third full year overseeing Merrimack's Operations Department.
Earning a promotion to Assistant Athletic Director for Operations in October of 2016, Barese previously served as Director of Operations and Operations Coordinator, respectively, after being elevated to full-time status in the summer of 2015. In his role within the operations department, Barese directs all aspects of operations, including management at home athletic events, scheduling, van rentals, and more.
Barese came to Merrimack after serving in the same capacity at Saint Anselm College. He is a 2008 graduate of Saint Anselm where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He then earned his Master of Science in Sport Science and Recreation from Ohio University in May of 2014. He was a four-year member of both the Hawks’ football and baseball teams, serving as team captain with each program.
Barese has also enjoyed summer collegiate baseball coaching stints, serving as the head coach of the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in both 2012 and 2013.
A native of Braintree, Mass., Barese currently lives in Manchester, N.H. with his wife Ashley, daughter Camryn and their dog, Gus.
