STANDISH, ME – The 2014 Saint Joseph's College baseball team faces a full 40-game schedule this spring, a docket that includes 14 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests and 26 non-conference games.
Led by Head Coach Will Sanborn '86, now in his 22nd year, the Monks are set to face a notable list of non-league foes, including 2013 NCAA Tournament qualifiers Wheaton College, Wartburg College, University of Southern Maine, Daniel Webster College and Endicott College. COMPLETE SCHEDULE
The schedule is dotted with three programs – Wartburg (IA), Concordia College (MN) and Aurora University (IL) – the Saint Joseph's baseball program has never before faced and several others – Westfield State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Salve Regina University – the team has not faced in 10 or more years.
Overall, the 2014 list of opponents compiled a 595-474 (.557) record, collectively, last spring and the Monks own a 300-177 (.629) all-time record versus the 27 different foes combined. St. Joe's is scheduled to play 18 games at home, 10 away and 12 at a neutral site this season.
For the first time in program history, the Saint Joseph's nine will take to the diamond in February, as the 2014 campaign kicks off with a nine-inning contest versus Concordia on February 28th at 3:00 PM in Auburndale, Florida. For the Monks, who will embark upon two Florida trips this year, the contest versus the Cobbers is the first of four games on the team's inaugural trek to play in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
After facing Clark University in a doubleheader on March 1st and Aurora University on March 2nd, the Monks return to Maine for a week of practice in preparation for their following trip, which begins with a pair of contests against Wheaton on March 9th.
Saint Joseph's also plays New Jersey City University, Westfield State, RPI, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Wartburg on the second southern swing, which comes to a close with a twinbill against the Knights on March 15th.
The Monks return to New England and will play a pair of road games versus Commonwealth Coast Conference foes – Roger Williams University and Salve Regina – on March 21st and March 23rd, respectively, before hosting Husson University in the 2014 home-opener on March 26th at 4:00 PM.
Saint Joseph's will also take on Johnson & Wales University (3/30), Colby College (4/2), Rivier University (4/5), Southern Maine (4/8), Albertus Magnus College (4/12), Anna Maria College (4/13), Roger Williams (4/18), Daniel Webster (4/21), Gordon College (4/29), UMass.-Boston (4/30), Bowdoin College (5/4), Bates College (5/7) and Endicott (5/8)
The 2014 GNAC Tournament begins with a preliminary round (top two seeds receive a bye - #3 vs. #6, #4 vs. #5 play single-elimination games) on April 22nd. The remaining four teams enter double-elimination play with the quarterfinals on April 24th and Larry Mahaney Diamond will serve as the host for the semifinal and championship games on April 26th and 27th. The GNAC Tournament champion earns an automatic berth into the NCAA DIII Tournament.
The 2014 NCAA New England Regional Tournament, which will again be played at Whitehouse Field in Harwich, Massachusetts, begins on May 14th.
In 2013, Saint Joseph's went 31-14 overall and 13-3 in conference play last spring en route to claiming the program's fifth GNAC Championship in six years as a member of the league. As the #6 seed in the New England Regional, the Monks opened with a 4-3 loss at the hands of #3 Endicott, an eventual tournament finalist, defeated #7 Salem State University, 7-5, in an elimination game, and saw the season come to a close with a 5-3 loss to #4 Western New England University.
The Monks have won eight conference titles in the last nine years and appeared in the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last eight seasons.
2014 BASEBALL SCHEDULE SYNOPSIS:
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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 430-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.