STANDISH, ME – Three Saint Joseph's College baseball players have signed contracts to play in the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL).
Left-handed pitcher Sam Murray '12 (Walpole, MA), right-hander Chad Rafferty '13 (Keene, NH) and third baseman Mike Pratt '13 (Dartmouth, MA) will play in the highly-touted league during the summer of 2011.
The HCBL features six teams: the Oahu Paddlers, Waikiki Surfers, Waimea Waves, Kamuela Paniolos, Kauai Menehunes and Hawaii Aliis. League rosters include around 30 players with the majority coming from NCAA DI programs around the country. The three SJC players have yet to be placed on teams.
The teams play a 35-game schedule which begins in mid-June and ends in late July. Following the regular season, the league hosts a six-team double-elimination tournament which is played out during the first week of August.
The HCBL was founded in 2005 and is sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Since the league's inception, 63 players have been drafted including nine players who were selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Free Agent Draft over the last six years.
"We are always looking to place our players in top summer leagues," adds Head Coach Will Sanborn '86. "This is a great step forward for our program, to place three players in one of the best summer leagues in the country – the HCBL. What a great opportunity for a young ballplayer – I can't imagine anything better than playing a summer of baseball in paradise!"
Murray, Pratt and Rafferty all played important roles in the Monks' highly-successful 2010 campaign, which ended after a five-game stint in the NCAA New England Regional Tournament.
Murray, the 2010 GNAC Pitcher of the Year, tossed 58.2 innings with a 2.45 ERA and a 7-2 record on the hill last spring. A finesse pitcher with a deceptive delivery, Murray allowed just seven walks and fanned 35 batters in 10 appearances and garnered regional attention with NEIBA and ECAC New England Second Team honors as a sophomore. He was also mentioned on the list of "Players to Watch" for the 2011 season by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
Pratt enjoyed a solid freshman season as the Monks' starting third baseman. In 38 games he hit .287 (31-108) with 22 runs, five home runs and 28 RBI. Pratt, who belted a three-run jack against Wheaton in the NCAA Regional, was the only rookie to hit a homer at the 2010 New England Tournament.
Rafferty also posted an excellent campaign as a first-year pitcher for the Monks. In 11 appearances, he went 5-0 and ranked second on the team with 40 strikeouts in 43.2 innings. Rafferty pitched exceedingly well in the biggest start of his career to date – an NCAA Regional losers' bracket contest against #1 seed Tufts – where he fanned seven and allowed three earned runs off five hits in six innings.
The 2010 St. Joe's team posted a 35-13 record, captured a conference title for the fifth time in the past six seasons and advanced to the NCAA DIII New England Regional for the fourth time in the last five years. The Monks won three games at the regional and advanced to the final day of the tourney last spring.
Since 2005, only two New England programs have posted more wins (190) and just three have notched a better winning percentage (.714). St. Joe's is one of three teams in the region to have made four New England Regional appearances in the last five seasons and one of four to notch five 30-win seasons over the last six years.
The 2011 campaign will be Coach Sanborn's 19th as the Monks' leader. He is the most successful coach in SJC Baseball history with a 471-273-6 career record and corresponding .633 winning percentage.
The 2011 season begins with a challenging spring trip to Winter Haven, Florida where the Monks will face off against the likes of Curry, Wheaton and Keene State during the week of March 13th – 18th.
