STANDISH, ME - The 2009 spring season began with uncertainty for the Saint Joseph's baseball team, having lost a host of major contributors upon graduation the year before. The Monks faced the unenviable task of defending the GNAC title without the likes of Luke Enman '08 , the 2008 GNAC Player of the Year, Dustin Spiller ‘08 and Brian Schools ‘08 . After all, the baseball class of 2008 had made three consecutive trips to the NCAA Regionals with an aggregate record of 124-50 during their four years. How would the 2009 team respond?

As to be expected, Head Coach Will Sanborn ‘86 , in his 17 th year as the Monks' skipper and the program's winningest coach, would not allow his program to skip a beat. The 2009 squad went on to surpass all expectations behind a record-breaking offensive onslaught en route to a 31-13 record and a GNAC regular season title.

The 2009 docket began with a trip to Winter Haven, FL as the Monks participated in the RussMatt Invitational during spring break. St. Joe's started the southern swing with a pair of splits with WPI and Wittenberg before dropping three consecutive contests to fall to 2-5. The Royal Blue recovered by defeating St. Joseph's (NY) and SUNY-Cobleskill by a combined score of 30-2 as the offensive barrage allowed the Monks to make the trek north with a respectable 4-5 record.

Several players stood out during the team's spring tour and the conference took notice, as a trio of SJC players swept the GNAC weekly awards upon returning. Player of the Week Eric LaBatte '11 (Rochester, NH) hit .435 while slamming a pair of home runs with 10 runs batted and freshman shortstop Danny Achorn (Bow, NH) hit .385 in his first sampling of college baseball to take GNAC Rookie of the Week honors. Right-hander Pat Moran '10 (Winterport, ME) solidified his role as the ace of the Monks' pitching staff by fanning 12 while yielding six hits and no walks with a 1.32 earned run average in 13 2/3 innings of work to take home the season's first GNAC Pitcher of the Week accolade.

After a week of fine tuning, the Monks hit the road for a three-game set against New Jersey City University. St. Joe's earned two victories, 3-2 and 9-8, with the help of stellar pitching from Moran and Andrew Keirstead '10 (Westbrook, ME) and clutch hits from LaBatte and Travis Adams '10 (Saco, ME) on the first day of action. The bats went silent in the final game the following day, however, as the Monks lost 3-0 to the Gothic Knights, having been shut out for the first time in 43 games, and headed back north with an even 6-6 record.

The following weekend marked the start of the conference schedule for the Monks, as the Royal Blue nine traveled to Albertus Magnus and Johnson & Wales for a pair of GNAC twin bills. St. Joe's swept AMC and split a rain-filled doubleheader against JWU to return home with a 3-1 conference record. Catcher Ian Lee '11 (Hampden, ME) made his presence felt during the weekend with eight hits in the four games.

April Fool's Day proved to be a lark for the Husson hitters, as SJC started Kevin Chamberlain '11 (Scarborough, ME) held the Eagles hitless for seven frames before allowing an infield hit to open the eighth frame. With the help of a three-run tater off the bat of Moran , the Monks rolled to an 8-4 triumph to improve to 10-7 on the year.

St. Joe's hosted GNAC opponents Rivier and Lasell the following weekend and the Monks cruised to a quartet of lopsided wins to increase their conference record to 7-1. The SJC offensive machine produced 93 runs, 86 hits, 28 doubles and a .509 batting average while the opponents countered with just four runs in defeat. Headlining the list of many offensive achievements was infielder Mike Burdin '10 (Gardiner, ME), who notched the program's second cycle in the second game against Rivier.

The Monks went on to win the remaining six GNAC games on their schedule and closed out their pre-tourney schedule with a pair of wins over Suffolk at Larry Mahaney Diamond on April 19th . With a 13-1 conference record, St. Joe's headed into the GNAC Tournament, hosted Mahaney Diamond, as the #1 seed.

In the tourney opener, Saint Joseph's trailed #4 Johnson & Wales 8-1 after six innings of play, but responded with four runs in both the seventh and eighth frames to secure an 8-7 victory. Senior tri-captain Wade Oliver (Owls Head, ME) plated four runs in the win, including the game-winner with a bases-loaded single in the 8 th .

The winners-bracket game against Suffolk the following afternoon proved to be anything but a pitching duel. The second-seeded Rams held a daunting 22-8 lead after just 3 ½ innings of play, but the Monks chipped away as relievers Andrew Pooler '09 (Southwest Harbor, ME), Shawn Hall '10 (West Newfield, ME) and Chris Dion '11 (Lawrence, MA) held the visitors at bay for remainder of the game. St. Joe's trailed 22-15 going into the bottom of the ninth and mounted one final comeback effort by scoring six runs to cut the lead to a single run. The Monks were unable to push across the tying run, however, and were forced to play in a conference loser's bracket game, against Johnson & Wales, for the first time since 2002.

First baseman Ben Grant-Roy '10 (Biddeford, ME) belted a pair of home runs and starter Kyle Dorr '10 (Berwick, ME) tossed six innings, allowing one earned run and seven hits, as the Monks successfully put the Wildcats' season to an end with a 12-6 triumph in the nightcap. The win pitted the Royal Blue against Suffolk in the GNAC Championship the following day, with St. Joe's needing a pair of wins to defend the crown.

Saint Joseph's was able to force a second game by topping the Rams, 6-5, in the opening game of the championship. Trailing 4-0 after five innings of play, the Monks plated three runs in the sixth and one in the eighth to knot the game at four apiece. With the help of a Suffolk miscue, St. Joe's scored twice in the top of the ninth to secure the team's first lead of the game. Dion , who entered the game in relief for Chamberlain in the eighth, battled through the ninth to earn the victory on the mound and force a winner-takes-all game.

Unfortunately for the Monks and their followers, a fifth-consecutive conference title was not in the cards. After playing 36 innings in two and a half days, with three comeback efforts, two resulting in wins, the gas tank of the SJC machine was running on fumes. The final nine innings for the Monks yielded a 15-6 loss, as Suffolk rapped 18 hits en route to capturing the 2009 GNAC Championship crown.

With four games remaining on the docket, the St. Joe's nine was determined to finish the year on a strong note. At 28-12 following the GNAC tourney, 30 wins was certainly attainable. After getting throttled by Southern Maine, 21-3, on April 16th, the Monks were also looking forward to the rematch against the Huskies at Mahaney Diamond on April 29th.

The outcome against USM on this date would be very different. The Monks trailed 5-1 after three and a half innings, but back-to-back long balls from Todd Keneborus '11 (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus) and Burdin in the bottom of the fourth made it a 5-3 game. Keneborus tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run home run and Moran doubled home Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester, NH) and Lee to lift the Monks to a 7-5 advantage. The Huskies went on to score twice in their next turn to tie the game, but St. Joe's plated the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a single from Grant-Roy . Moran relieved Dorr on the mound in the sixth and fanned seven in 3 1/3 innings to improve to 7-1 on the season. The win over Southern Maine, ranked #1 in the country at the time, slightly diminished the sting of losing the conference tournament for the Monks and also offered a glimmer of hope when it came to receiving an at-large bid into the NCAA DIII Tournament.

Now at 29-13 overall, the goal of a thirty-win season was attainable with a single victory in a doubleheader against Bates College in the final games of the season for both squads. St. Joe's managed to chase the Bobcats twice, 16-11 and 10-5, at Mahaney Diamond to close out the year with a 31-13 record. Campbell led the SJC offensive effort with a 7-8 day in the twin bill as the Monks scattered 29 hits in the sweep.

Although the Monks were not selected to participate in the regionals, one could hardly tab the 2009 season as a failure. The thirty-win season was the seventh in program history, the sixth under Coach Sanborn's watch, and fourth in the last five years. The 2009 SJC offense set new single-season team records in at bats (1475), runs (431), hits (523), doubles (116), RBI (401), hit batsmen (60) and runs per game (9.8). Also, many players enjoyed tremendous seasons individually:

• Pat Moran broke out in a big way for the Monks in 2009, leading the Royal Blue in wins (8), ERA (3.88), innings pitched (62 2/3), strikeouts (75) and fewest walks allowed (6). He also swung a mighty bat with 11 home runs and an .813 slugging percentage, both team and GNAC highs. He earned GNAC First Team All-Conference honors as a pitcher and designated hitter, All-NEIBA First Team, D3Baseball.com All-America Honorable Mention and ECAC DIII Baseball Third Team honors, as well as team Most Valuable Player and Saint Joseph's Athletics Male Athlete of the Year accolades.
  
• Ian Lee produced one of the finest offensive seasons in recent memory for the Monks. The second-year catcher hit .475 (75-158) to capture the GNAC batting title and amassed 40 runs, 53 RBI and 17 doubles. He finished the season ranked seventh in the nation in hitting with the third-highest average in SJC baseball history. His hits total also paced the GNAC, ranked 24 th in NCAA DIII Baseball, and is the third-most in program history. For his efforts, Lee collected All-Conference Second Team and D3Baseball.com All-America Honorable Mention honors.
  
• Chris Campbell produced a banner season as a first-year starter for the Monks. Campbell logged time at second, shortstop, third, left and center field for Coach Sanborn in 2009. After hitting 423 (63-149) with 43 runs, 28 RBI, eight stolen bases and a sparkling .479 on-base percentage, he was named First Team All-Conference as a utility player and received All-NEIBA Third Team honors.
  
• Ben Grant-Roy earned his second-straight First Team All-GNAC nomination after hitting .384 (56-146) with 17 doubles, seven long balls and 41 RBI in 2009. The slick-fielding first baseman also collected his first regional accolade when he was named to the NEIBA Third Team. Watch for this slugger to continue his assault on the SJC career record book during his senior season.
  
• Mike Burdin also posted a breakout season and was an All-GNAC First Team selection at second base in 2009. An unexpected source of power as a junior, Burdin cracked five home runs and hit .385 (50-130) with 37 runs and 37 RBI last season.
  
• Despite posting his lowest batting average (.268) in four seasons while donning the Royal Blue, Wade Oliver closed out his career with impressive numbers in the production department en route to his fourth-straight All-Conference nomination. The First Team All-GNAC selection scored 39 runs with 13 doubles, 37 RBI and a team-leading 13 stolen bases while roaming center field for the Monks in 2009. Oliver's name can be found throughout the SJC Baseball career record book as he capped his college years 2nd in at-bats (565), 4th in runs (147), 5th in hits (186), tied for 2nd in doubles (42), 2nd in triples (13), 6th in RBI (114) and tied for 4th in steals (42). Oliver is one of just three players in program history to have received All-Conference honors following each of their four seasons (Steve Osborne ‘02, Luke Enman ‘08) 
   
• Kevin Chamberlain turned into a workhorse for the Monks in 2009, having thrown 41 innings with 32 strikeouts against just seven walks as a sophomore. The right-hander capped his season with a 3-1 record and pitched in some of the most important games of the year.

The senior class of Oliver , Pooler , Stephan Gorsun (South Berwick, ME) and Michael Hebenstreit (Centerville, MA) helped the team post a 123-53 (.699) in their four years at Saint Joseph's. The win total and winning percentage both rank third in program history for a departing senior class. This group will be missed not only for their achievements between the lines but also for their contributions off the field.