STANDISH, ME – The Saint Joseph's baseball team is again ranked second in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) regional poll and has moved up several spots in a pair of national rankings this week.
The Monks defeated Suffolk University, 7-6, in the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship game on Sunday and punched their ticket into the NCAA DIII Tournament with the victory. St. Joe's has now captured a conference crown in seven of the last eight years, including four GNAC titles in five seasons as a member of the conference, and will be making the program's sixth NCAA tourney appearance later this month.
Saint Joseph's was ranked 17th in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll last week and has moved up to the #12 spot in the current rankings. The Monks have received 316 points in the national poll and sit behind only Wheaton College, ranked ninth with 397 points, among New England programs earning votes.
The Monks have also moved up in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball national poll. St. Joe's, ranked 16th last week, now sits in the #13 slot with 133 points.
St. Joe's received one first-place vote and 28 total points in the sixth NEIBA Regional Poll of the 2012 campaign. With 31 points and three first-place votes, Wheaton College remains in the top spot while Trinity College (21 points), Western New England University (21), Keene State College (14), Eastern Connecticut State University (12), Amherst College (11) and Bridgewater State University (4) round out the top New England programs, according to the poll. Bowdoin College and Salem State University also received votes.
Saint Joseph's recorded a 14-2 mark versus GNAC opponents this spring and, with one regular-season game remaining, owns a 36-5 record overall. The Monks' 2012 win total is the most since the 2001 campaign, when the Royal Blue notched a team-record 38 victories with only four losses.
D3baseball.com/NCBWA Weekly Poll #10
