Saint Joseph's Baseball Ranked 9th in the Nation

STANDISH, ME – The latest D3baseball.com national poll has been released and Saint Joseph's College is ranked ninth in the country.

The Monks, ranked 14th in the preseason poll and 12th last week, are off to a 5-0 start to the 2013 campaign with a pair of victories over both Rhode Island College and Ripon College and a single triumph over Wheaton College. Saint Joseph's topped Wheaton – the #1 team in the nation at the time – by a 2-1 score on Monday afternoon, a victory that is not included for consideration in this week's poll.

Pitching has propelled the Monks to an outstanding start, as eight SJC hurlers have combined to post a miniscule 0.51 ERA while holding opponents to a paltry .175 (21-120) batting average through five contests. Three of the Monks' wins have been of the shutout variety and the staff has fanned 32 hitters while allowing only seven walks over 35 frames so far this spring.

Senior righty Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.) leads the Saint Joseph's pitching staff with a non-existent ERA and eight K's with five hits allowed in seven innings.

Offense has also been solid as the Monks have hit .312 (39-125) while outscoring their foes by a combined 26-2 score so far this week. Junior right fielder Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) paces the Royal Blue with a .533 (8-15) average and has seven RBI through five tilts this season.

Other New England programs listed in the top-25 include #3 Wheaton, #15 Western New England University and #19 Trinity College. Cortland State (7-1) sits atop the weekly poll while reigning NCAA DIII Baseball Champion Marietta College is currently ranked second in the country.

Saint Joseph's continues its nine-game southern swing with a single contest versus New England rival Keene State College at the Lake Myrtle Complex on Wednesday at 2:00 PM.

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