STANDISH, ME – The Saint Joseph's College baseball team recorded one of the most successful seasons in SJC Athletics history in 2012.

Under the watch of 20th-year Head Coach Will Sanborn '86, the Monks went 39-7 overall and 14-2 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play last spring en route to claiming the program's seventh conference crown in the last eight years and an NCAA Tournament berth for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

Along the way, Coach Sanborn (542-295-5, .648) became the winningest coach in Saint Joseph's history and the 2012 team broke the school record for single-season victories. Also, the Monks' .848 winning percentage was the second-highest in all of NCAA Baseball – all levels – last season.

The Monks were ranked regionally and nationally virtually all season, including a #1 ranking in the New England Region in early April. Nationally, the Royal Blue sat as high as 11th in early-May and finished the season as the #14 team in the country, according to the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball and D3Baseball.com/NCBWA national polls.

As the #1 seed in the GNAC Tournament, Saint Joseph's topped #4 Suffolk University, 7-5, in a quarterfinal contest and bested #3 Anna Maria College, 6-3, to remain in the winners' bracket and advance to the tourney championship for the fifth-consecutive season. Trailing 6-2 with one out in the bottom of the ninth versus Suffolk in the title contest, the Monks managed to score five runs to capture the GNAC crown and automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Saint Joseph's, the #2 seed in the NCAA DIII New England Regional Tournament, produced a lengthy run while facing the top programs in the eight-team regional playoff for the third straight year, but fell short of the ultimate goal of claiming the program's first NCAA Regional Championship. While at the New England tourney, the Monks defeated #7 Bowdoin College, fell to #3 Trinity College, topped #4 Keene State College, and bowed out of contention with a loss at the hands of #5 Western New England University.

The 2012 campaign began with a nine-game slate in the RussMatt Invitational Tournament in Winter Haven, Florida in mid-March. Facing a list of tough New England Region opponents, the Monks opened the year with one of the program's finest spring trip showings in recent memory, as the Royal Blue returned north with an 8-1 record. During the week in the Sunshine State, St. Joe's recorded wins over Endicott College, Framingham State University, Curry College, Keene State College, and reigning New England Regional Champion Western New England University. The Monks' lone loss came at the hands of 2012 NCAA DIII World Series runner-up Wheaton College.

The Monks saw their eight-game win streak come to a close with a 7-5 loss at the hands of New Jersey City University on March 25th, but kicked off a 10-game winning stretch with a solid 5-0 triumph over 2010 New England Region Champion UMass.-Boston at home on March 30th. Sophomore starting pitcher Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody, Mass.) was brilliant on the hill, tossing eight innings of five-hit shutout ball with a career-high 10 strikeouts in the win.

St. Joe's went on to sweep conference doubleheaders versus Albertus Magnus College and Suffolk to improve to 16-2 overall and 4-0 in GNAC play and notched a key in-region victory over eventual Little East Conference Champion Southern Maine on April 4th. Junior outfielder Sam Butts (Saco, Maine) went 3-5 with a double, a home run and three RBI and Gruntkosky improved to 3-0 on the year after fanning six in six frames in the victory over USM.

Saint Joseph's posted four wins over the next three days, defeating Maine-Presque Isle and Colby College before sweeping GNAC-foe Emerson College to up the win-streak ante to 10 contests.

The Monks came out flat against Bowdoin at home on April 9th and suffered a 9-4 loss to the Polar Bears as a result, but the Royal Blue responded by outscoring their opponents by a 59-17 margin over the next six games, which included doubleheader sweeps over Lasell College, Maine-Farmington and Rivier College, to improve to 27-3 overall and 10-0 in GNAC play.

St. Joe's traveled to Northfield, Vermont to collect a pair of wins over Norwich University on April 18th and returned home for an important GNAC twinbill versus Johnson & Wales University two days later. The opener versus the Wildcats went as planned, as staff ace Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.) tossed a complete-game shutout with seven K's in an 8-0 triumph. The nightcap was a different story however, as the Monks - leading 5-1 in the sixth - squandered the lead, allowing Johnson & Wales to score six runs off seven hits and an SJC error in the top of the seventh in a 7-5 loss.

The Royal Blue proceeded to earn an impressive 9-3 win over eventual NCAA Tournament qualifier Daniel Webster College the next day as the Monks' record increased to 31-4 overall. Anna Maria came to Standish the next day for a key conference two-game set and both tilts proved to be low-scoring affairs. St. Joe's would take the opener by a 3-1 margin on the shoulders of sophomore starting pitcher Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine), who improved to 6-0 on the season after yielding one run off three hits with eight K's in seven frames. Unfortunately, the Monks would have to settle for a split on Senior Day, as the AMCATS were able to score a pair of late runs to claim a 3-2 win.

Although it was not the goal, the split with Anna Maria provided Saint Joseph's with the top seed in the GNAC Tournament, which began on April 26th with a quarterfinal contest at Larry Mahaney Diamond against Suffolk. St. Joe's trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth but utilized home runs from Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.), Brandon Chase (Naples, Maine) and Dan Achorn (Bow, N.H.) to earn a 7-5 victory.

With the tourney triumph Saint Joseph's trekked down to East Providence for the remainder of the GNAC Tournament, which was hosted by Johnson & Wales in 2012. The Monks squared off against the AMCATS of Anna Maria College in a semifinal and, with the help of 5.2 effective innings from Gruntkosky and 3.1 outstanding frames or relief from junior Tyler Laverriere (Biddeford, Maine), Saint Joseph's recorded a 6-3 win to advance to the title tilt.

The championship versus Suffolk, which staved off elimination with a pair of wins in a matter of eight hours, proved to be one of the most thrilling games in SJC baseball history. Trailing 6-2 with one out in the bottom of the final frame, the Monks managed to draw five walks and record a pair of clutch hits, including a walk-off, two-run single off the bat of freshman catcher Nic Lops (South Portland, Maine/Cheverus) with two out. Reliever Andrew Devereaux (Hope Valley, R.I.) made the comeback possible, as the senior sidearm specialist allowed one run off two hits and a walk while fanning one in 3.2 innings of relief to collect the winning decision.

Following the conference tournament, Saint Joseph's hosted a pair of NCAA Tournament "tune-up" contests, as Gordon College came to Standish on May 1st and Bates College traveled to Mahaney Diamond on May 9th. The Monks won both games in convincing fashion and headed into the New England Regional clicking on all cylinders with one of the best records in the country, 37-5.

The first game of the New England Regional Tournament, hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University, pitted #2 Saint Joseph's versus #7 Bowdoin College and promised to be a true pitcher's duel. Rafferty and Bowdoin hurler Oliver Van Zant, two of the elite pitchers in New England, both tossed complete-game gems, but the Monks' ace came out on top in a 2-0 triumph after fanning a career-high 13 batters.

The Monks faced #3 Trinity College the next evening and could not get the bats going in a 4-0 loss, the team's first shutout setback of the season. Gruntkosky earned the start and pitched well, as did Alex Valenti (Lawrence, Mass.) in relief, but the adage "if you don't score, you can't win" proved true as Saint Joseph's was headed to the losers' bracket.

With the loss, the goal of claiming the regional crown became infinitely more difficult, but the Royal Blue looked up to the task after recording a 6-1 win over #4 Keene State the following afternoon. Sanborn turned in his most dominant performance of the year, allowing one unearned run off seven hits while fanning 10 Owls, to keep his team's tourney hopes alive.

Unfortunately, the optimism would prove to be short-lived, as the Monks would fall to Western New England by the identical score later that same day. Unable to string together hits, St. Joe's stranded seven runners in the season-ending loss.

The setback signaled the end of NCAA Baseball for the Monks' eight seniors: Achorn, Devereaux, Dan Brown (Portland, Maine/Deering), Jon Dahms (Gorham, Maine), Kyle Neagle (Lisbon Falls, Maine), Sam Murray (Walpole, Mass.), James Mostone (Pelham, N.H.) and Peter Allain (Salem, N.H.). This group helped Saint Joseph's post an otherworldly 137-48 (.741) record, including a stellar 50-8 (.862) mark versus GNAC opponents, over the last four seasons and will be missed as the program moves forward.

NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

• Rafferty enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons ever recorded by a Saint Joseph's pitcher as a junior, notching a 10-0 record with a 1.71 ERA and 74 strikeouts while allowing 20 walks and a .213 opponents' batting average in 68.1 innings. For his efforts, Rafferty garnered D3Baseball.com All-America, ABCA/Rawlings All-America, D3Baseball.com New England Pitcher of the Year, NCBWA New England Pitcher of the Year, NEIBA First Team All-New England, GNAC Pitcher of the Year, and First Team All-GNAC accolades. He heads into his senior season tied for second in program history in pitching victories (21), ranked fourth in ERA (2.83), fifth in fewest hits per nine innings (7.93), sixth in strikeouts (182) and WHIP (1.21), seventh in K/9 (9.38) and ninth in innings (174.2).
• Lops, the 2011 GNAC Rookie of the Year and GNAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, emerged as one of the Monks' top hitters as a freshman. The first-year receiver paced the Royal Blue in batting average (.389, 51-131) and OBP (.437) and finished the year tied for third in RBI (28). Lops, also a 2012 Second Team All-GNAC honoree, is the first freshman to lead the team in batting since Jesse LaCasse '03 hit .479 as a rookie in 2000.
• Chase, the Monks' 2012 Hitter of the Year, led the team in slugging (.646), RBI (38), home runs (7), triples (6), and stolen bases (8) and ranked second on the squad in batting average (.354, 46-130) in his second year at St. Joe's. For his efforts, the junior second baseman earned First Team All-GNAC and NEIBA Third Team All-New England honors.
• The younger Sanborn went 7-0 with a 2.87 ERA and 60 K's in 53.1 innings and allowed just 12 walks along with a .242 opponents' batting average in his first season with the Monks. He led the team - and ranked 30th in the country - with 10.13 strikeouts per nine innings and garnered a pair of Second Team All-GNAC honors (pitcher, utility) and D3Baseball.com Third Team All-New England Accolades.
• Coyne served as the #3 hitter in all but four contests as a freshman and hit .346 (56-162) with 24 runs, 12 doubles, two triples, 24 RBI, and four steals in his first collegiate campaign. A First Team All-GNAC selection, Coyne led the team in hits and ranked second in doubles while posting a solid .413 OBP.
• Achorn enjoyed his finest NCAA season as a senior, hitting .340 (52-153) with 35 runs, 10 doubles, a triple, a homer, 20 RBI, and three stolen bases as the Monks' starting shortstop. He recorded career-highs in average, runs, hits, doubles, RBI, total bases (67), slugging (.438), walks (13), OBP (.400), and sac bunts (6) and produced 15 multiple-hit games as a senior and claimed First Team All-GNAC honors for his efforts.