OK, my $.02 here as well
I have been to every field in the LE except KSU. I think UMB has a field now as well, but never went there in the past. Just from a fan perspective, never played on them, I would say
1 ECSU - First class facilty all around - Stands, press box, etc. The field drains really well (have heard the drainage alone cost hundreds of thousands of dollars). Pro lighting. Haven't seen a lot, but would be willing to bet that it is the best (if not, at least top 5) of all the college baseball facilities in NE (I know some teams might play at MiLB facilities, I'm not counting them)
2. USM - Very Nice. The new stand with the full seats and bricks is nice. Not a whole lot of places to stand down the lines and could use some lights to really make it great. Field itself seems good.
3. RIC - don't know why everyone is so hard on this one. Its not that bad. Could be a little better infield and it has no foul territory, but it has gotten better in the last few years I would say. The infield is more level now and they've added some new stuff down the LF line for the home team (redid the BP and Cage I think). Plenty of seating around the plate and a real press box.
4 UMD- Nothing remarkable. Kind of like a good HS field. Field seems in good enough condition. No press box and I don't like the evergreens behind the plate. Only place to sit is those little HS portable bleachers down the line.
5 - PSU - Both times I have been there it has been gray and cloudy and cold. The dirt is like a gray gravel. And the grass is not smooth, its clumpy and splotchy and ususally a brownish color. So instead of green grass and brown dirt and blue sky, its gray dirt and brown grass and gray sky. Just kind of a depressing field. Only made more depressing for the home fans when they look at the scoreboard. (Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress!)
6 - An absolute abomination. The worst field I have ever seen HS or college baseball played on. They couldn't have even spent the money to at least cut and fill so the field is level. Just a shame. I guess they used every cent they had for the football field (which is awesome). Should have cut a corner here and there with the FB field to at least make the BB field playable.
Other than that, I can't think of any really great fields in NE. Wheaton is good, but I would agree that it doesn't have the best vantage points for fans. Tufts isn't that bad. Neither is Babson. Springfield I would say isn't that bad either. Never been to WNEC. Have driven past MIT, which looks OK, looks like they have done some work on. I don't think anyone other that USM or ECSU has a "stadium" feel to it though. I don't know how Trinity gets recruits with their field. It is sub HS level. Hate how it is so open. Didn't even know you were allowed to have a college field without dugouts.
RE - WestConn and Eastern. Would agree that no one calls it EastConn. In fact, I call WCSU "Western" most of the time and ECSU "Eastern" all of the time. Its UConn and Eastern.
Agree that DI teams don't want to play Eastern (and I would guess vice versa). For the DI teams, it doesn't help them. If they lose, it hurts their image and if they win they were supposed to. I also think that now with 40 game limits on DIII and the criteria used to select teams for the NCAAs, it doesn't help Eastern. Most of the time they would lose (maybe not so in the past, but UConn has been pretty good the last few years) and wins against DIII teams helps them. In the past, things were a bit more wide open. But now with conference games and "Quality Wins" to get, it is harder for DI teams to play DIII teams. FWIW - Eastern used to play UMass in the fall before there were tighter regulations on fallball and they usually held their own, even winning a few.
