ATLANTA, Ga. – Saint Joseph's College (0-1) opened the 2015 season with an 11-1 loss at the hands of Rhodes College (4-1) at Emory College on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore infielders Taylor Black (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.) and Mike Kinch (Newton, Mass.) posted a pair of hits apiece in the losing effort.

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the fourth, the Monks got on the board with a run off two hits and a Lynx miscue to cut the deficit down to two runs. Black led off the inning with a single to left and moved up two bases as a result of a pair of fielder's choices before scoring on a single up the middle off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Jameson Collins (Sandown, N.H.).

Unfortunately, the Monks would get no closer to the lead as wheels fell off in the bottom of the frame, when Rhodes plated six runs off four hits and two Saint Joseph's errors to stake a 9-1 advantage. The big inning chased senior starter Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine) from the contest after allowing nine runs (two earned) off 11 hits and a walk with two strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

Saint Joseph's squandered a potential scoring opportunity in the third when sophomore first baseman Brett Barbati (Melrose, Mass.) led off with a double and moved to third on a Kinch base knock, but Kinch was picked off first, junior right fielder Tim Beaudette (Uxbridge, Mass.) struck out swinging on a full count, and sophomore shortstop Max McCoomb (South Berwick, Maine) also whiffed to end the inning.

Junior left fielder Taylor Reuillard (Biddeford, Maine) doubled and sophomore infielder Nick Petchell (Milton, Mass.) singled to account for the Monks' other two hits in the setback. Sanborn suffered the loss, just the second of his NCAA career, while freshman Chris Gerossie (Chester, N.H.) tossed 1.2 innings of one-hit ball with a pair of punchouts in his collegiate debut on the hill. Sophomore Nick Malatesta (Wrentham, Mass.) gave up two runs off five hits and a walk with a K in 1.1 innings to close out the SJC pitching ledger.

Prior to this afternoon, Saint Joseph's had never faced Rhodes College – a team that went 33-17 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament last spring – on the baseball diamond. In fact, today's meeting versus the Lynx marks just the second time these two institutions have ever met on the playing field with the first occurring this past fall when Rhodes defeated the Monks' field hockey team, 4-0, on October 19th.

Making the earliest start to a season in team history, Saint Joseph's joins Southern Vermont as the first New England programs to take to the diamond this spring. The Mountaineers opened up with a 7-0 loss at Southern Virginia in a 12:00 PM start today.

Saint Joseph's continues the Georgia trip tomorrow with a 10:30 AM game versus Lynchburg College.

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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.