STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's has swept the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Weekly Baseball honors.
Sophomore outfielder Alex Markakis (Lynnfield, Mass./St. John's Prep) has garnered GNAC Player of the Week accolades, freshman catcher Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) is the Rookie of the Week, and junior pitcher Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.) has been selected as the Pitcher of the Week.
Markakis hit .429 (12-28) with a pair of doubles and a team-high eight RBI to help the Monks post an 8-1 record during the team's spring trip. The sophomore outfielder went 3-3 with a pair of RBI in a win over Endicott College on March 13th and added a 3-4 effort with a run, a double and an RBI to help his team defeat Curry two days later. Markakis also recorded a fine performance at the plate in a victory over Keene State on March 16th, going 2-4 with a run scored and three RBI versus the Owls.
Coyne enjoyed a tremendous start to his collegiate career, hitting a team-high .571 (16-28) with four runs, four doubles, a triple and seven RBI in an 8-1 spring trip for Saint Joseph's. The freshman catcher registered at least two hits in six of the Monks' nine contests in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational and started off with a 2-3 effort with a double and an RBI in his first contest – a win over Endicott College on March 12th. He followed up the effort by going 5-7 with a run, two doubles, a triple and three RBI in a doubleheader sweep over Framingham State the next day and went 3-3 with two runs and an RBI in another triumph over Endicott 3/13. He capped the trip going 3-4 with two RBI and a double in a 9-4 victory over 18th-ranked Western New England, the reigning New England Region champions.
Rafferty cemented his role as the Monks' staff ace with a pair of stellar performances against tough opponents in the 2012 RussMatt Central Florida Invitational last week. The junior righthander was perfect through three innings and tossed six frames of one-hit ball with six K's in six innings to collect the win against Endicott College on March 11th. He followed up with a solid effort to earn the winning decision versus Keene State five days later, when he worked seven innings of three-hit ball with three strikeouts and one earned run allowed. For the week, he posted a spectacular 1.38 ERA as opponents managed to hit just .098 (4-41) against him.
Saint Joseph's (8-1), ranked 27th nationally according to the latest ABCA/Collegiate Baseball DIII Poll, will hit the field again on Friday at Roger Williams University in a nine-inning tilt slated to begin at 3:30 PM. From there the Monks will continue the trek south to New Jersey, where the Royal Blue will play three games at New Jersey City University – two on Saturday and one on Sunday.
