MONKS PUNCH TICKET TO NCAA TOURNAMENT

STANDISH, ME – Top-seeded Saint Joseph’s (29-11, 12-2 GNAC) negated a 6-2 deficit with six unanswered runs and defeated #3 Suffolk University (20-19, 9-5 GNAC), 8-6, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Sunday afternoon. Monks pinch-hitter Dan Brown ’12 (Portland, ME/Deering) broke a six-all tie in the top of the ninth with an RBI double and later scored an insurance run on an infield error during the final frame.

St. Joe’s, which defeated #4 Lasell by a 13-9 score on Thursday and topped #2 Johnson & Wales yesterday, 4-0, had two opportunities to defeat Suffolk at Mahaney Diamond today. The Monks, who played as the away team this afternoon due to tourney regulations, required just one contest to dispose of the Rams and captured the program’s third GNAC Championship in four seasons as a league member in the process.

With the win, Saint Joseph’s collects the NCAA DIII Tournament berth awarded to the GNAC Tournament victor. The Monks, who won three games in the NCAA tourney last spring, will be making their fifth appearance in the NCAA New England Regional Tournament in the last six years.

Not to be lost in all the excitement is the fact that today’s win was the 500th victory in Head Coach Will Sanborn’s esteemed career. Coach Sanborn, now 500-284-6 (.638) in 19 seasons as the Monks’ skipper, is just the second coach in SJC Athletics history to reach the 500-win mark. Recent SJC Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Rick Simonds posted a 504-187 (.729) in 23 years as the men’s basketball coach and one season as the softball clipboard carrier.

For the Monks, second baseman Chris Campbell ’11 (Rochester, NH) went 4-5 with a run and two RBI and center fielder Nate Martin ’13 (Chebeague Island, ME) was 2-5 with a run, a double and an RBI.

Starting pitcher Mason Roberge ’11 (Franklin, NH) yielded six runs (three earned) off six hits and fanned a pair in 4.1 innings but did not factor into the game decision. Freshman righthander Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody, MA) tossed 3.2 scoreless innings with three K’s and four hits allowed and improved to 3-1 on the year while Tyler Laverriere ’13 (Biddeford, ME) picked up his first career save with a strikeout in a scoreless ninth.

For the Rams, senior right fielder Andrew Babb (Ashland, MA) went 3-5 with an RBI and senior center fielder Nick Travelyn (Bedford, NH) was 2-4 in the loss.

Suffolk starter Tim Belanger ’12 (Raynham, MA) allowed five runs (three earned) off seven hits and a walk in 5.2 innings and reliever Charles Kilgore ’11 (Milford, NH) gave up a run off a hit and a free pass in 1.1 innings of work. Rams ace Alex Torres ’11 (Framingham, MA) was hit with the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) off four hits and a hit batsman in two innings of relief.

Following the completion of the championship contest the 2011 GNAC All-Tournament Team was announced. SJC starting pitcher Chad Rafferty ’13 (Keene, NH), who tossed a complete-game shutout with 12 strikeouts in  a 4-0 win over JWU yesterday, was selected as the Tournament Most Valuable Player while Campbell – who hit .733 (11-15) in the playoffs, Brown and Ian Lee ’11 (Hampden, ME) collected all-tourney honors for the Monks.

Matt Sliney ’13 (Brockton, MA), Mark Annese ’11 (Winchester, MA) and Joe Cintolo ’14 (Wrentham, MA) garnered honors for Suffolk while Lasell’s Conor Cavanagh ’11 (Quincy, MA) and Bobby Stachura ’13 (Middletown, CT) and JWU’s Nick Alosco ’11 (Mahopac, NY) and Teddy Katz ’11 (Pittsburgh, PA) also received All-Tournament mention.

The Monks looked to go ahead by way of the long ball early in today’s title bout, but a westerly breeze knocked down deep flies hit by Mike Pratt ’13 (Dartmouth, MA) and Alex Lorenc ’14 (Nanuet, NY) as both balls were snagged for outs in the first two innings.

The wind would not hamper a line-drive blast hit by Suffolk left fielder Stephen Schultz ’14 (Salem, NH), however, as the rookie outfielder turned on a Roberge offering for a three-run jack to put the Rams on top in the bottom of the fourth.

The Monks immediately responded with two runs off three hits and a Suffolk miscue in the top of the fifth to make it a 3-2 game. Campbell and left fielder Sam Butts ’13 (Saco, ME) reached with one-out singles and both runners scored on a single hit by Todd Keneborus ’11 (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus). Campbell scored easily, but Butts scampered home and Keneborus reached second when Travelyn, the Rams’ center fielder, overran the ball in the outfield.

Suffolk answered with three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 advantage. First baseman Michael Muse ’14 (Milton, MA) led off with a single and wound up on third when Roberge tossed a double-play feed, on a ground ball hit by designated hitter K.C. McCarthy ’14 (Concord, MA), into center field. With runners on the corners, Cintolo singled to right-center to send Muse across the plate and Roberge to the showers in favor of Gruntkosky, who fanned the first batter he faced but gave up run-scoring singles to Babb and Annese before inducing a fly out to end the inning.

Unfazed, St. Joe’s went right back to work in the top of the sixth when the Royal Blue scored three runs off two hits and a Suffolk error to cut the deficit down to 6-5. Martin rapped a 2-0 pitch down the left field line for an RBI double and Campbell plated Achorn, who reached on an error, and Martin with a single to center.

The Monks tied the game in the top of the seventh when Keneborus reached with a leadoff walk and later scored on a single to right off the bat of Lee.

Saint Joseph’s squandered an opportunity to grab the lead with bases loaded and one out in the top of the eighth. Torres, who started the inning in place of Kilgore, worked his way out of the jam by inducing a pair of harmless outs.

In the meantime, Gruntkosky held the Suffolk bats at bay during the seventh and eighth innings and the Monks headed into the top of the ninth with measureable momentum after Travelyn whiffed and pinch runner Danny Gunn ’14 (Medford, MA) was caught stealing to end the bottom of the eighth with a strike-out, throw-out double play.

Pratt, who had hit the ball hard with nothing to show for it in prior at bats, led off the ninth frame with a line-drive double to right center, but it seemed he would be stranded at second as Torres, who tossed eight innings on Friday, fanned the next two SJC batters. With two down and Pratt in scoring position, Coach Sanborn tapped Brown to pinch hit for Brandon Chase ’13 (Naples, ME), who entered the game as a pinch runner for Alex Markakis ’14 (Lynnfield, MA) in the eighth. The wily veteran came up with the season’s biggest hit, a double to right-center on a 2-2 pitch, to finally send Pratt home and put the Monks on top by a 7-6 margin.

Brown, who had not appeared in a game since April 23rd, used some old-fashioned hustle and heads-up play to score his team’s eighth run of the game. SJC shortstop Dan Achorn ’12 (Bow, NH) hit a ground ball to second but reached on an errant toss and Brown, sprinting all the way, scored from second base without a throw.

Laverriere plunked a pair of Suffolk hitters in the bottom of the ninth but worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Saint Joseph’s, which won North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007, is now 22-2 (.917) in conference tournament play since 2005. St. Joe’s and Suffolk have met in the GNAC title game in each of the last four years and the Monks’ only playoff losses have come at the hands of the Rams, who topped the Royal Blue twice in the 2009 tourney en route to the GNAC crown.

The Monks have now won eight straight contests and own a 27-4 record since returning from their spring trip in mid-March.