STANDISH, ME – Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 has announced the 2012 Saint Joseph's College baseball schedule. Postseason tilts notwithstanding, the Monks' slate includes 17 games in March, 21 contests in April and a pair of games in May.
For the fourth consecutive campaign St. Joe's will kick off the season by participating in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Auburndale, Florida, and this year's spring trip schedule is sure to be one of the most competitive in the country.
The Monks will play nine games versus six New England Region opponents during the nine-day trip, which begins with a doubleheader against 2011 ECAC New England Co-Champion Endicott College on March 11th. The following day Saint Joseph's looks to settle the score in a twinbill with Framingham State, a club that took both ends of a two-game set from the Monks last March.
St. Joe's takes on perennial New England contender Wheaton College in a single nine-inning tilt on March 13th. The Monks have defeated the Lyons in two of three NCAA Tournament meetings over the past two seasons but, in a game that required two days to complete due to several fog delays, Wheaton dealt Saint Joseph's a season-ending 5-3 loss in the 2011 postseason.
After a day off, the Monks resume play with a doubleheader against Curry College before facing Keene State College in a nine-inning game on March 16th. The trip concludes with a nine-inning contest versus 2011 New England Region Champion Western New England College the following day.
All times and field assignments for the spring trip will be announced in the coming weeks.
After making the trek back to New England, the Monks play at Roger Williams University on March 23rd and travel to New Jersey City University for a three-game set to be played over the following two days.
Saint Joseph's hosts 2010 New England Regional Champion UMass.-Boston in the Monks' 2012 home-opener on March 28th. The 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) schedule begins with two games versus Albertus Magnus College at Mahaney Diamond on March 31st. The Monks continue GNAC play the following afternoon when the team travels to Boston for a twinbill against Suffolk University, a club the Royal Blue has faced in each of the last four conference championship contests.
Aside from 16 GNAC regular-season contests, the Monks' 2012 docket includes nine-inning games versus Husson University, University of Southern Maine, Maine-Presque Isle, Colby College, Bowdoin College, Daniel Webster College, Gordon College, and Bates College. St. Joe's will also host a non-conference twinbill versus Maine-Farmington this coming spring.
The GNAC Tournament begins with a single-elimination preliminary round on Tuesday, April 24th and the six-team double-elimination tourney concludes with the championship game on Sunday, April 29th. Higher seeds serve as hosts during the prelim and quarterfinal rounds while Johnson & Wales University has been selected as the host for the semifinal and championship contests.
The NCAA DIII Regional Tournament (site TBD) starts on May 16th and concludes four days later.
Last spring, Saint Joseph's went 32-15 overall and 12-2 in GNAC play en route to capturing the program's sixth conference crown over the last seven seasons. With the conference automatic qualifier, the Monks advanced to NCAA Tournament play for the fifth time in the last six years and posted victories over third-seeded Wheaton and #1 Tufts University in the 2011 New England Regional Tournament.
Since 2005, just three New England programs have posted more wins (222) and only four have notched a better winning percentage (.709). No team has made more New England Regional appearances (5) since 2006 and just two programs (Eastern Connecticut and Wheaton) have notched more 30-win seasons over the past seven years.
Coach Sanborn is about to enter his 20th season as the Monks' skipper and ranks as the most successful leader in program history with a 503-288-5 (.636) record. He needs just two wins to become the winningest head coach in SJC Athletics history.
