STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College (22-9, 10-2 GNAC) blanked Daniel Webster College (19-7, 12-2 NECC), 8-0, in a non-conference baseball contest at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Friday afternoon.
The Monks won their eighth-consecutive game with the help of seven strong innings from senior starter Jimmy Kennedy (York, Maine), who fanned five while allowing just four hits and no walks, and home runs from Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.), Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) and Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.).
It was a lackluster first inning for Daniel Webster, an NCAA Tournament qualifier a year ago, as the Monks belted a pair of home runs and held a 4-0 lead after one turn at the bat. Eagles starting pitcher Syed Ali (Dracut, Mass.) started off by inducing a pair of groundball outs, but plunked Coyne with an errant fastball to set the stage for Pratt, who lifted a 1-0 offering well beyond the left field wall to provide the Royal Blue with a 2-0 lead. Lorenc made it back-to-back jacks with a solo shot and senior second baseman Brandon Chase (Naples, Maine) singled up the middle, stole second and scored on an Alex Markakis (Lynnfield, Mass.) base knock to make it a 4-0 game.
Saint Joseph's struck with two outs again in the bottom of the second, when senior left fielder Sam Butts (Saco, Maine) worked a four-pitch walk and – after stealing second and moving to third on a Louie Vigars (Stratham, N.H.) groundout – trotted home on a Coyne tater to left-center.
Two scoreless innings followed, as the Saint Joseph's hitters struggled to solve Daniel Webster freshman reliever Sean Hannon (Billerica, Mass.), who entered the game after Coyne's long ball in the second. Hannon retired seven-consecutive batters before issuing a free pass to Vigars in the bottom of the fifth. After the base on balls, Coyne stepped in and lined a double to left-center, but Vigars was thrown out at home on a well-executed relay from right fielder Joe Morin (Pelham, N.H.) and second sacker Elliot Kilgore (Milford, N.H.) to catcher Tyler Bonin (Litchfield, N.H.). But the Monks proceeded to tack on another run with two out, as Coyne scampered to third on the throw to home and scored on a Lorenc single up the middle to lift the hosts to a 7-0 cushion.
St. Joe's added the game's final run in the sixth, when Chase led off with a double and later scored on a Taylor Reuillard (Biddeford, Maine) single to left-center.
For the Monks, Coyne went 2-3 with three runs, a double, a homer and two RBI, Lorenc was 2-4 with a run, a home run and a pair of RBI and Chase added two hits in four trips with two runs, a double and a stolen base in the triumph. Markakis went 2-4 with an RBI and Pratt slammed the 20th home run of his career and becomes just the eighth player in team history to hit 20 or more jacks.
On the mound, Kennedy was quite efficient, having tossed 82 pitches – including 57 strikes – and succeeded in not reaching a single three-ball count during his career-high seven innings of work. Freshman reliever Riley Cox (Westford, Mass.) allowed two hits and fanned one in one inning and sophomore southpaw Dan Meeken (Marshfield, Mass.) struck out on batter with a hit and a walk allowed in the top of the ninth.
For the Eagles, senior left fielder Darrik Marstaller (Spofford, N.H.) went 2-5 with a double and sophomore third baseman Kyle Brigham (Hudson, N.H.) was 2-4 with the bat while making several nice plays with the glove at the hot corner.
Ali suffered his first loss of the season after yielding six runs off five hits and a walk with one strikeout over 1.2 innings and Hannon gave up two runs off four hits and a free pass with a K in 3.2 frames of relief. Sophomore slinger Kieran Koch (New City, N.Y.) tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief with a walk and a punch-out for the visitors.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 9-0 in the history of the series with Daniel Webster College, a program that has been skippered by former SJC pitcher J.P. Pyne '01 for six seasons. The shutout triumph is the Monks' first versus the Eagles since the Royal Blue blasted Daniel Webster by a 20-0 margin on March 14th, 2001.
The three-homer effort is the team's first this spring and the Monks' first since a GNAC Tournament victory over Suffolk University on April 26th, 2012. Pratt, Chase and Dan Achorn '12 hit home runs in the 7-5 win over the Rams that day.
A big conference weekend lies ahead for Saint Joseph's, as the Monks play doubleheaders at Johnson & Wales University (23-11, 10-2 GNAC) on Saturday (1:00 PM) and at Rivier University (7-26, 2-10 GNAC) on Sunday (1:05 PM). Daniel Webster is off until Tuesday when the Eagles host NECC-rival Southern Vermont at 3:30 PM.
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
