STANDISH, ME – The Monks Baseball spring trip schedule, which features nine contests in the 2011 RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida, has been announced.
The "Spring Break" docket promises to be one of the most competitive in the country, as the Monks' 2011 trip opponents posted an aggregate 145-91-1 (.614) record last spring. Four of the six clubs advanced to postseason play last year, as two captured NCAA DIII Tournament berths and a pair were selected to play in the ECAC DIII New England Championship tourney in 2010.
Five of the six teams hail from the New England Region with three ranking among the area's most successful programs over the last decade. Regional opponents include Curry College, Keene State College, Wheaton College, Fitchburg State University and Framingham State University and the lone non-region counterpart - Franklin & Marshall College - participates in one of the most competitive conferences in the country.
The group of opponents has combined to make 11 NCAA Tournament appearances since 2005. Please note- all game starting times are to be announced.
The trip begins with a two-game set against Curry College on Sunday, March 13th. The Colonels posted a stellar 30-13 overall record and earned the top seed in The Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament with a 17-5 in-league mark in 2010. Curry failed to win the TCCC title, but was selected as the #1 seed in the ECAC DIII New England Championship where the Colonels routed their opponents by a 50-16 margin in three games en route to capturing the tournament crown.
Saint Joseph's is 7-1 all-time against Curry, which last advanced to the NCAA DIII New England Regional tourney in 2007. The Monks haven't faced off against the Colonels since March 12th, 2007 when the Royal Blue won both ends of a doubleheader against them in Orlando during spring break that year. Curry capped the 2010 season as the ninth-ranked team in New England.
The Monks move on to face Franklin & Marshall College (PA) in another twinbill the following day. The Diplomats, NCAA Tournament qualifiers in 2005 and 2006, went 15-19 overall and 9-9 in Centennial Conference contests last spring. Franklin & Marshall regularly faces stiff competition, including conference-rival Johns Hopkins University – an NCAA DIII World Series participant in two of the last three years.
The Diplomats tipped the Monks, 4-3, in the only meeting between the two clubs – on March 12th, 1996.
Keene State College is next on the docket, as the Monks and Owls duel in a nine inning tilt on March 15th. Keene posted a 27-17-1 record and garnered the #2 seed in the Little East Conference Tournament with a 10-4 in-league record last season. The Owls, ranked sixth in New England in the final 2010 regional rankings, earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and played as the #5 seed in the New York Regional last spring.
Although Keene State has topped Saint Joseph's in each of the last two meetings, the Monks own a 6-5 edge in the history of the matchup with the Owls. St. Joe's lost at Keene State, an NCAA DIII New England Regional participant in 2007 and 2008, in the last meeting between the clubs, which took place on April 28th, 2008.
The agenda gets no easier as the week goes on, as the Royal Blue gears up to play Wheaton College the very next day in a nine-inning game. The Lyons captured the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference championship for the 10th time and went 34-10 overall with an 11-1 in-league mark last spring. With the NEWMAC automatic qualifier, Wheaton appeared in the NCAA DIII New England Tournament for the fifth time in the last six seasons as the #2 seed in 2010.
Wheaton certainly hasn't forgotten the last time these two teams met, especially since the game – a 9-7 loss at the hands of the Monks in the losers' bracket of the 2010 NCAA Regional, was the Lyons' last of the 2010 campaign. Wheaton, ranked 14th in the country and second in New England at the time, owns a 3-1 record versus Saint Joseph's and begins the 2011 season ranked 22nd in the nation, according to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA DIII Preseason Poll.
Saint Joseph's faces Fitchburg State University the next day, which is Saint Patrick's Day, in another nine-inning contest. The Falcons posted a 15-19 overall mark and went 6-8 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference play in 2010.
The meeting between the Monks and Falcons will be the first, as the pair of New England Region programs have never met on the diamond.
St. Joe's closes out the six-day, nine-game trip with a twinbill against Framingham State University on Friday, March 18th. Framingham set a team record for wins in 2010, when the Rams went 24-13 overall and played to an 11-3 tilt in MASCAC games en route to earning the #2 seed in the conference tournament. Following the season, FSC collected an ECAC DIII New England Championship Tournament berth as the #5 seed.
The Monks hold a 2-1 record in the history of the series with the Rams and came from behind to defeat Framingham, 11-10, last season on April 8th at Larry Mahaney Diamond.
Saint Joseph's is coming off one of the most successful seasons in the program's storied history. In 2010, the Monks went 35-13 overall and 11-3 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference contests, captured a conference crown for the fifth time in the last six years and advanced to the NCAA DIII New England Regional Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
After losing to top-seeded Tufts University in the first round of the regional, eighth-seeded St. Joe's went on to defeat #5 Worcester State, #3 Western New England and #2 Wheaton before falling to Tufts, 6-5 in 11 innings, on the final day of the tournament.
Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 enters his 19th season as the Monks' skipper needing 29 victories to become the second Saint Joseph's coach, across all sports, to reach the 500-win plateau. Coach Sanborn currently ranks as the baseball program's all-time leader in both wins (471) and winning percentage (.633).
