Hartford, Conn. - The Trinity College baseball team, coached by Bryan Adamski (8th Season), is ranked No. 19 nationally in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division III Pre-Season Poll and seniors Robbie Cronin (Wellesley Hills, Mass.) and Alex Shafer (Baltimore, Md.) both represented the Bantam squad on the publication's National "Player to Watch" list for 2021.  Trinity had high hopes to contend for both a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title and trip to the NCAA Division III World Series last spring. 

Ranked No. 16 nationally a year ago, Trinity went 3-0 over the first weekend of 2020, including a 5-1 victory over No. 6-ranked Southern Maine, before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Bantams finished the 2019 season with a 30-9 overall record, qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament for the 10th time, and reaching the NCAA Regional finals with three wins in five games in the post-season.

Cronin, a NESCAC All-Academic honoree last spring, is a two-year starter for the Bantams at 2B and batted .455 in his three games in 2020.  Cronin hit .264 (29-for-110) with 19 runs scored and six doubles as a sophomore in 2019. A graduate of the Belmont Hill School, Cronin is majoring in economics. He is the son of Katherine and Robert Cronin.

Shafer was an All-NESCAC pitcher for the Bantams as a sophomore in 2018.  He struck out 71 batters in 107.2 innings pitched and finished 9-4 with a 3.18 ERA in his career. The right-hander fanned six batters to earn a 5-1 win over then-No. 6-ranked Southern Maine last March.  An alum of the Gilman School, Shafer graduated from Trinity in May with a degree in political science and is competing this spring as a graduate student.