STANDISH, Maine – The 2015 Saint Joseph's College baseball schedule has been released. The Monks are set to play a full docket of 40 games this spring, including 14 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests and 11 home games.
The 2015 campaign, which will be the 23rd for Head Coach Will Sanborn '86, features the earliest start in program history, as the Monks kick off the season on February 14th versus Rhodes College, the first of three games the Royal Blue will play at Emory College in Georgia.
During the first of three southern trips, Saint Joseph's also plays Lynchburg College and Emory, a program that finished as the 2014 NCAA DIII College World Series runner-up and enters the 2015 season ranked second in the nation in several preseason polls.
The Monks return to Maine for a little over a week before venturing south again, this time to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the Royal Blue take on Frostburg State University, Ramapo College and University of Pittsburgh-Greenburg in a three-game stint at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
For the seventh-consecutive season, Saint Joseph's will play in the RussMatt Invitational at Auburndale, Florida during the College's Spring Break. The Monks will face Wheaton College, Fontbonne University, Gordon College, Thomas More College and Westfield State University during a 10-day stay in the Sunshine State.
The New England slate begins with a game at Roger Williams University on March 20th and the home opener, a 1:00 PM tilt versus Salve Regina University, takes place at Larry Mahaney Diamond on March 22nd.
The GNAC schedule begins the following weekend when Saint Joseph's travels to Johnson & Wales University for two conference games on March 28th. The Monks host GNAC-rival Lasell College the following day.
A rematch of the last seven GNAC Championship contests takes place at Mahaney Diamond on April 18th, when St. Joe's hosts Suffolk University for a pair of conference contests. The Monks host repeat NCAA DIII New England Region champion University of Southern Maine the next day in a 1:00 PM start.
The 2015 GNAC Tournament begins with a preliminary round on April 21st and follows with quarterfinal play on April 23rd. The final four teams head to Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire where the semifinal and championship contests will be played on the weekend of April 25th. Suffolk will serve as the tournament host.
Following the GNAC Tournament, the Monks take on UMass.-Boston, Bowdoin College, Bates College and MIT – with the latter three games taking place at Mahaney Diamond. The NCAA DIII New England Regional Tournament returns to Whitehouse Field in Harwich, Massachusetts and begins on May 13th.
Since 2005, the Monks rank 13th in the nation – out of 370 NCAA DIII programs – in winning percentage (.717) and 14th in total victories (322) with eight NCAA Tournament appearances over the last 10 years. Saint Joseph's is one of just three New England programs to reach the 30-win plateau nine times since 2005.
Last spring, Saint Joseph's went 30-15 overall and 11-3 in GNAC play en route to notching the program's ninth conference championship – and fifth consecutive title - over the last 10 years.
The 2015 schedule can be found in its entirety HERE
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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.