WENHAM, MA – Saint Joseph's (25-11, 11-2 GNAC) defeated Gordon College (6-25, 3-14 TCCC), 10-5, in a non-conference baseball contest on Monday afternoon. Ian Lee '11 (Hampden, ME) went 3-5 with three doubles and three RBI and Sam Butts '13 (Saco, ME) was 2-3 with two runs and five RBI in the Monks' triumph.
St. Joe's scored one run in the first and four in the second and third frames to secure a 9-0 lead through three innings. The Fighting Scots rallied with two runs in the fourth and a pair in the fifth but the Monks managed to hold on as the teams swapped scores in the seventh to account for the 10-5 final.
Monks senior outfielder Todd Keneborus (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus), 2-4 with a run and an RBI in the win, became the fifth player in SJC baseball history to reach the 200-hit plateau with his second base knock of the afternoon. The 2010 GNAC Player of the Year currently has a .402 (200-497) career batting average with 135 runs, 37 doubles, a program-record 21 triples, 13 home runs and 144 RBI in 151 contests over four seasons.
Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester, NH) went 2-4 with two runs, Alex Markakis '14 (Lynnfield, MA) was 2-4 with a run, a double and an RBI and Dan Achorn '12 (Bow, NH) scored two runs in the five-run victory.
SJC starting pitcher Mason Roberge '11 (Franklin, NH) tossed three scoreless frames while allowing one hit and a walk with four K's but did not factor into the decision. Nick Whittaker '14 (Yarmouth, ME), now 3-1 on the season, picked up the win after allowing four runs (three earned) off three hits and three walks while relievers Jimmy Kennedy '13 (York, ME), Kyle Neagle '12 (Lisbon Falls, ME) and Chris Dion '11 (Lawrence, MA) combined to yield one run off two hits and two walks with four strikeouts over three innings of work.
Lee, hitting .556 (10-18) with six runs, five doubles and seven RBI over the Monks' last six games, doubled home Campbell to lift the Royal Blue to a 1-0 edge. Butts sent Achorn and Markakis scrambling home with a single in the second and Lee doubled in Keneborus and Butts in the second to make it a 5-0 game.
Saint Joseph's proceeded to put the game out of reach by scoring four runs off four hits with two out in the top of the third. Butts came up big again with a three-run double and scored when Keneborus singled to left to lift the Monks to a 9-0 lead.
The Scots cut into the Monks' momentum with four unanswered scores, but St. Joe's dug deep and added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to help stave off the hosts' comeback bid. Lee doubled and later scored on a Markakis two-bagger to proved the visitors with their 10th run of the afternoon.
Gordon senior starter Steve Myhren fell to 1-5 after allowing five runs off five hits and three walks in two innings on the hill.
St. Joe's will face Norwich University this afternoon at Larry Mahaney Diamond at 4:00 PM. If the Monks win the contest, which was cancelled on Saturday due to poor field conditions, they will earn the top seed in the upcoming Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament.
