STANDISH, ME – Seniors Dan Brown (Portland, Maine/Deering), Jon Dahms (Gorham, Maine) and Kyle Neagle (Lisbon Falls, Maine) will serve as captains for the baseball team this season.
All three players bring a bevy of intangibles and a thorough understanding of the Saint Joseph's Baseball tradition to the table. The coaching staff expects this trio to help lead the Monks to another fine season as the team looks to contend for another Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) crown in 2012.
Brown, a utility infielder who will likely see time at third and second base this spring, appeared in 25 games with 19 starts in 2011. A sure-handed fielder with a nice left-handed swing, Brown hit .245 (13-53) with five doubles and seven runs batted in as a junior. The highlight of his career thus far: an RBI double that wound up as the game-winning hit in the GNAC Championship last spring.
Dahms, a strong-armed and heady catcher, has played in 40 games with 13 starts through three collegiate seasons. He has battled through a laundry list of injuries, including a broken catching hand last spring, over his career and looks to finish his four years with a healthy season.
Neagle, who transferred in to Saint Joseph's after one year at Franklin Pierce, has served in a number of roles over the last two seasons and this year looks to be no different. An infielder and top pinch runner as a sophomore and a power arm out of the bullpen as a junior, Neagle figures to log innings on the hill while filling roles as a pinch runner and reserve infielder and outfielder in 2012.
All three captains were appointed prior to the fall baseball practice session.
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.
Saint Joseph's will kick off the 2012 season with a nine-game slate in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida, beginning with a twinbill versus Endicott College on March 11th.
