STANDISH, ME – The 2013 Saint Joseph's College baseball schedule has been released. The Monks will once again play the full complement of 40 games with 16 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests and 24 non-conference games.
Saint Joseph's, ranked 14th nationally according to the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll, is set to play 18 games in March, 21 in April and one in May with 18 on the road, 12 at Larry Mahaney Diamond and 10 to be played at neutral sites.
Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 (542-295-5, .648), the winningest coach in Saint Joseph's history, has built the baseball program into a perennial conference contender and NCAA Tournament qualifier. In the last eight years, the Monks have claimed seven conference titles with seven 30-win seasons and six NCAA Tournament appearances. With a 261-98 record and subsequent .727 winning percentage since 2005, only three New England programs have posted more wins or a better win rate over the past eight seasons.
But all of the past success means little to a team that aspires to capture the program's first NCAA Regional Championship and faces what is likely to be the toughest schedule an SJC baseball team has ever faced in 2013.
The Monks' 2013 non-conference docket includes contests versus seven teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and a pair that played in the College World Series, last spring. Keene State College, Castleton State College, Bowdoin College, University of Southern Maine and Daniel Webster all appeared in the NCAA tourney a year ago while Wheaton College and Webster University both played in the CWS in Appleton, Wisconsin last season.
In fact, 12 of the Monks' 17 non-conference foes listed on this year's schedule have appeared in the NCAA Tournament on at least one occasion in the last six years.
St. Joe's will also face Rhode Island College, Ripon College, UMass.-Boston, Endicott College, Roger Williams University, Husson University, Curry College, Bates College and Gordon College this season. Overall, the Monks' 25 opponents combined to post a 502-496 (.503) record last season and Saint Joseph's owns a 303-170 (.641) record against the group.
The 2013 campaign begins on Saturday, March 2nd with a trip to Beverly, Massachusetts where Saint Joseph's will play Endicott College in a single nine-inning contest starting at 12:00 PM. Endicott, winners of consecutive ECAC DIII New England Championships, went 29-16 last spring and figures to be one of the toughest opponents in the region this year and beyond.
A week later, the Monks make their annual trek south to participate in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Auburndale, Florida for the sixth-consecutive year. The nine-game slate begins with a doubleheader against Rhode Island College on March 9th and continues the following day with two games versus Ripon College (WI). Saint Joseph's faces perhaps its biggest test, Wheaton College - a team that went 41-11, won the New England Regional and advanced all the way to the NCAA DIII World Series Championship a year ago - on March 11th.
St. Joe's plays Keene State on Wednesday, March 13th and takes on Webster, a team the Monks have never faced before, the next day. The team heads back to New England after capping the southern swing with two games versus UMass.-Boston on March 15th.
Saint Joseph's begin play up north with two games in Bristol, Rhode Island where the Monks will take on host Roger Williams on March 22nd and Castleton State the following day. On the way back to Maine, St. Joe's plays UMass.-Boston twice on March 24th and travels to Husson University for a single nine-inning tilt on Thursday, March 28th.
The 2013 home-opener is set for Friday, March 29th when Roger Williams lands at Larry Mahaney Diamond for a nine-inning game slated to start at 3:30 PM. The next day, the Monks open GNAC play, and close out the month of March, with a doubleheader versus Lasell College at home starting at 12:00 PM.
A busy April starts on the first day of the month with a trip to Waterville, Maine for a nine-inning game against Colby College. The Monks host Emerson College in a GNAC twinbill on Wednesday, April 3rd and remain in Standish for a single contest against Curry College the following afternoon.
Saint Joseph's then hits the road as the Royal Blue visits Anna Maria College for a pair of GNAC tilts on April 6th before playing a duo of 2012 NCAA Tournament qualifiers in Bowdoin and Southern Maine on April 8th and 9th, respectively.
The Monks return to Mahaney Diamond for a GNAC twinbill versus Norwich University on Wednesday, April 10th and continue conference play with two contests at Albertus Magnus College three days later. St. Joe's caps a very busy two-week stretch with a pair of games against GNAC-rival Suffolk University on Sunday, April 14th.
Saint Joseph's hosts Bates on Tuesday, April 16th and squares off against Daniel Webster College at Mahaney Diamond three days later. The Monks close out the regular season with conference doubleheaders at Johnson & Wales University and Rivier University on Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21st, respectively.
The 2013 GNAC Tournament begins with a preliminary round (top two seeds earn a bye) on Tuesday, April 23rd and continue with a quarterfinal round two days later. The tournament then moves to historic Holman Field in Nashua, New Hampshire where the semifinals and championship games will be played on April 27th and 28th.
The Monks have a pair of single nine-inning games following the GNAC Tournament – one at Gordon College on April 30th and another on May 8th. The NCAA Regional Tournament begins on Wednesday, May 15th.
In 2012, Saint Joseph's posted an overall record of 39-7 and went 14-2 in GNAC play en route to claiming the #1 seed in the conference tournament. The Monks defeated Suffolk, 7-5, in the GNAC Tournament quarterfinals and advanced to the championship with a 6-3 victory over Anna Maria in a semifinal matchup two days later. Facing Suffolk in the conference championship for the fifth-consecutive season, St. Joe's – trailing 6-2 with one out in the bottom of the ninth – managed to plate five runs in a miraculous comeback victory to earn the GNAC crown for the fourth time.
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. While at the New England tourney – which was hosted by Eastern Connecticut State - 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 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. Also, the Monks' .848 winning percentage was the second-highest in all of NCAA Baseball – all levels – last season.
2013 Schedule Synopsis:
