Lesley will add baseball as its sixth men’s sport during the 2010-11 academic year, boosting its sports sponsorship to 12 teams.

The move will enable the New England Collegiate Conference to seek automatic qualification to the Division III Baseball Championship.

“The university is extremely excited about the addition of baseball here at Lesley and the successful future we expect it to have," said Stanley Vieira, athletics director at the school, which was a women’s college until it began admitting men in 2004.

“As a staff we felt that being in the New England region that is rich with baseball history, that adding baseball was a wonderful match for our growing athletics department.”

The team will be coached by Michael Rocco, a former assistant coach at another NECC member, Daniel Webster.

“Lesley University stands out as one of the most outstanding universities in the nation and the addition of baseball will only create more interest from talented student-athletes,” Rocco said. “The NECC is a conference on the rise in New England and in Division III.  The blend of location and what the university has to offer should give us the ability to compete and flourish in our conference.”