STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (22-12, 12-2 GNAC) will host #4 Lasell College (14-15, 9-5 GNAC) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Quarterfinal contest at 4:00 PM this afternoon at Larry Mahaney Diamond.
What have you done lately?
Saint Joseph's, ranked sixth in New England according to the latest New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Regional Poll, enters the GNAC Tournament having won 16 of 18 games during the month of April. The Monks rattled off 13 consecutive wins, a stretch that is tied for the second-longest in program history, from April 1st – 15th and posted solid non-conference wins over Bowdoin College, Endicott College and nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine last week.
Lasell kicks off the postseason with nine wins in the last 12 games, including a 1-0 thriller over #5 Rivier University in the single-elimination play-in round on Tuesday night. The Lasers have not endured back to back losses since falling to Johnson & Wales (8-1) and Suffolk University on April 4th and 8th, respectively.
Who to watch – Saint Joseph's
The Monks feature a deep lineup, with all nine starters entering the playoffs hitting .296 or better, including the top three hitters in the conference in senior catcher Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.), junior outfielder Taylor Reuillard (Biddeford, Maine) and sophomore right fielder Scott Betts (Peabody, Mass.). Coyne leads the conference in batting average (.427, 50-117), OBP (.496) and doubles (14) and ranks second in the league in hits (50) and RBI. Reuillard is the GNAC hits leader (51) and is also second in total bases (72), doubles (12) and batting average and Betts paces the GNAC in RBI (28) while ranking third in batting average (.373) and home runs (3).
Senior pitcher Alex Valenti (Lawrence, Mass.) heads up the SJC staff and ranks second in the conference in strikeouts (44) and innings (39.1), third in K/9 (10.1) and sixth in ERA (3.43). Junior closer Corey McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) leads the league with five saves and is currently second in the GNAC in appearances (12) and sixth in opponents' batting average (.152, 10-66) with just three walks in 18 innings.
Who to watch – Lasell:
Four Lasell starters enter today's contest hitting .333 or better, a quartet led by senior outfielder Matt Sammarco (New Canaan, Conn.), who is hitting .355 (33-93) with 15 runs, four doubles, eight RBI and four stolen bases. Senior infielder AJ McKenzie (Pasadena, Md.) owns a .350 (28-80) batting average with seven runs, two doubles, eight RBI and six stolen bases and junior catcher Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) ranks as the Laser's leader in runs (18), doubles (6), home runs (2) and RBI (22) while hitting .337 (29-86) on the season. Junior third baseman Tyler Flaherty (Portland, Maine/Cheverus) is the Lasers' fourth-leading hitter with a .333 (22-66) average to go with 12 runs, two doubles, a homer and 13 RBI.
Freshman pitcher Josh Bahnick (Clinton, Mass.) is the GNAC ERA leader with a 1.89 mark and has fanned 17 while allowing 28 hits and six walks over 38 innings this spring. Senior Ryan Bowen (Hudson, Mass.) figures to be the Lasers' top relief option, having made eight appearances with 24 K's and a 4.05 ERA in 33.1 innings.
Attitude reflects leadership:
Head Coach Will Sanborn '86, now in his 23rd season as the Monks' leader, is the winningest skipper in SJC Athletics history, with 625 career victories, and last spring became the eighth New England NCAA DIII Baseball head coach to reach the 600-victory milestone. Sanborn has guided the Monks to nine conference titles in the last 10 seasons, including five-consecutive GNAC Championships, with eight NCAA Tournament appearances during the same span.
Lasell Head Coach Greg Harjula, now in his fifth season at the helm for the Lasers, owns a 77-92 career record, including a 39-33 mark in GNAC play. He has led his teams to GNAC Tournament appearances in four of the last five years, including last spring when the Lasers went 10-4 in conference play and earned an ECAC Tournament berth. Harjula, a native of Rockland, Maine, played collegiately for Eastern Nazarene and served as an assistant coach for the Lasers before assuming the head coaching role prior to the 2011 season.
The last time we met:
Saint Joseph's swept Lasell with 3-0 and 3-1 victories over the Lasers at Mahaney Diamond on Thursday, April 2nd, which was the date of the Monks' 2015 home-opener.
As the scores indicate, St. Joe's employed outstanding pitching on that day exactly three weeks ago, as Valenti, senior Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine) and McNamara combined to allow just nine hits and four walks with 15 strikeouts over 14 frames in the two-game set.
Senior Kevin Post (Cromwell, Conn.) and Bahnick took the losses for the Lasers after allowing four earned runs off 11 hits combined in the GNAC sweep.
Historically speaking:
Saint Joseph's owns a 13-3 all-time record versus Lasell College, a seventh-year NCAA DIII varsity program. The Monks and Lasers split regular-season doubleheaders in 2013 and 2014. St. Joe's defeated Lasell, 9-2, in a GNAC Quarterfinal last year. Coyne, Reuillard and sophomore infielders Max McCoomb (South Berwick, Maine) and Brett Barbati (Melrose, Mass.) all recorded multiple-hit performances as the Monks put up nine runs on 15 hits in the win over the Lasers.
#GOMONKS
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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 474-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.
