Monks tabbed No. 14 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll

STANDISH, ME - The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper 2013 NCAA DIII Preseason Poll has been released and Saint Joseph's College is ranked 14th in the country.

The Monks are coming off one of the most successful seasons in Saint Joseph's athletics history, as the Royal Blue went 39-7 overall and 14-2 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play under the watch of Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 last spring. The 2012 team broke the institution's single-season wins record and capped the year ranked 14th in the nation in the final Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com polls.

Saint Joseph's advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven seasons after winning the GNAC Championship - the club's seventh conference crown in the last eight years - and, as the #2 seed in the 2012 New England NCAA Regional, proceeded to defeat #7 Bowdoin College and #4 Keene State College in the tourney.

Coach Sanborn (542-295-5, .648) became the winningest coach in Saint Joseph's history during the 2012 campaign and the Monks' .848 winning percentage was the second-highest in all of NCAA Baseball – all levels – last season.

St. Joe's returns four starting pitchers, a staff led by senior righthander Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.), a ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com All-America selection last spring, and seven starting position players, including All-New England honorees Brandon Chase (Naples, Maine) and Nic Lops (South Portland, Maine/Cheverus, from the 2012 squad.

Saint Joseph's is among several New England programs to be ranked in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Wheaton College, which won the New England Regional and fell to Marietta in the NCAA DIII National Championship last spring, enters the year ranked as the top team in the nation. Trinity College is ranked 16th heading into the 2013 campaign, while Western New England University (22nd), Eastern Connecticut State University (24th) and University of Southern Maine (26th) were also ranked in the top 30.

Keene State College and Salem State University also received votes in the annual preseason ranking.

The Monks will kick off the 2013 season with a single game at Endicott College on Saturday, March 2nd. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM.

*Release courtesy of Saint Joseph's College (ME) Sports Information Dept.