STANDISH, Maine – The 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball postseason honors have been released and 12 individuals from Saint Joseph's College have earned awards.
Three individuals highlight the impressive list of honorees, as seniors Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) and Alex Valenti (Lawrence, Mass.) have been selected as the GNAC Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, and 23rd-year Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 has been chosen as the 2015 GNAC Coach of the Year.
A total of eight Saint Joseph's players are listed on the First Team, as Coyne, Valenti, senior Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine), junior Taylor Reuillard and sophomores Brett Barbati (Melrose, Mass.), Taylor Black (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.), Scott Betts (Peabody, Mass.) and Dan Donovan (Lynn, Mass.) claimed top team honors.
Senior Dan Meeken (Marshfield, Mass.) and sophomores Max McCoomb (South Berwick, Maine) and Dennis Meehan (Gardiner, Maine) are listed on the Second Team.
Coyne, a four-time First Team All-GNAC selection, is currently batting .434 (56-129) with 27 runs, 16 doubles, three home runs, 30 RBI and four stolen bases. The senior catcher leads the conference in batting average, OBP (.500), slugging (.643), hits (56), doubles, RBI and total bases (83) and ranks second in the league in home runs, plate appearances (147) and at bats (129).
For his career, Coyne owns a .354 (214-604) batting average with 110 runs, 51 doubles, four triples, nine home runs, 115 RBI and 11 steals over 172 games. He became the sixth player in team history to reach the 200-hit plateau with a single versus Johnson & Wales University on April 16th and currently ranks as the Monks' all-time leader in at bats (604) and is tied for second in hits (214), doubles (51). He is also among the program's career leaders in RBI, total bases and extra base hits.
Coyne is the sixth Saint Joseph's player to garner Conference Player of the Year honors since 2005 and the first since Todd Keneborus '11 collected back-to-back awards in 2010 and 2011. He is also the only SJC player in the last 11 seasons to claim First Team All-Conference honors all four years.
Valenti earns All-GNAC acclaim for the first time in his career and becomes the fifth Saint Joseph's player in the last seven seasons to earn Conference Pitcher of the Year honors after posting a 2.91 ERA with a 3-2 record and 52 strikeouts in 46.1 innings. The two-year team captain allowed 41 hits and 23 walks and held opponents to a .234 (41-175) average while yielding just five extra-base hits – all doubles – in eight starts on the hill.
Valenti leads the GNAC in starts, strikeouts and K/9 (10.1) and ranks third in innings and ERA. For his career, the senior owns a 2.76 ERA and a 13-7 record with 165 strikeouts over 179.1 innings pitched. He has allowed 153 hits and 73 walks with a .228 opponents' batting average over four seasons.
Sanborn collects Coach of the Year honors for the first time since 2009 after leading the Monks to a 23-14 record and a GNAC regular season title with a 12-2 mark in conference play this spring. Now in his 23rd season, Sanborn is the winningest head coach in SJC Athletics history with 627 career victories and led the Royal Blue to a 13-game win streak – the second-longest stretch in program history – earlier this spring. The Conference Coach of the Year accolade is the fourth of Sanborn's illustrious career.
Lincoln Sanborn earns First Team All-Conference as a utility player after hitting .320 (32-100) with 22 runs, eight doubles, two triples, a homer, 18 RBI and four stolen bases as the Monks' primary third baseman while posting a 4-2 record with a 3.74 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 33.2 innings on the mound. A 2012 Second Team selection, owns a career .306 (57-186) batting average with 42 runs, 13 doubles, 32 RBI and five stolen bases with a 2.78 ERA and a 18-4 record along with 140 K's in 145.2 innings on the hill.
In the midst of a breakout season, Reuillard is currently hitting .384 (53-138) with 32 runs, 12 doubles, four triples, a home run, 24 RBI and seven stolen bases as one of three SJC players to start all 37 contests this spring. A Third Team All-GNAC choice as a sophomore, Reuillard leads the conference in at bats, runs, hits, triples and sac bunts (9), ranks second in plate appearances (158), doubles, total bases (79) and batting average, and third in RBI. He is also listed as one of three outfielders on the inaugural GNAC All-Defensive Team.
Barbati collects All-Conference accolades for the first time after hitting .342 (41-120) with 18 runs, six doubles, 23 RB and four stolen bases as the Monks' primary first baseman. He ranks fourth in the GNAC in plate appearances (140), at bats and RBI and is also listed as the first baseman on the GNAC All-Defensive Team.
Betts, also a first-time All-GNAC honoree, is batting .336 (40-119) with 18 runs, eight doubles, three home runs, 28 RBI and a pair of stolen bases. The April 20th GNAC Player of the Week ranks second in the conference in RBI, third in homers, fourth in total bases (61) and sixth in both batting average and slugging (.513).
Black is also enjoying a breakout season while hitting atop the Monks' potent lineup, hitting .348 (46-132) with 28 runs, eight doubles, two home runs, 15 RBI and eight stolen bases as a sophomore infielder. He currently leads the conference in plate appearances (162) and is second in at bats, sac bunts (7), third in hits and hit by pitch (9), fourth in runs, and fifth in total bases (60).
Yet another first-time All-GNAC selection, Donovan has emerged as a middle-of-the-order bat as the Monks' primary designated hitter this spring. He is currently hitting .421 (24-57) with 11 runs, six doubles, 14 RBI and two steals. He is tied with Coyne for the team OBP (.500) lead and ranks second on the squad in batting average.
Meeken, the April 20th GNAC Player of the Week selection, has been one of the Monks' most reliable pitchers this season, as the senior southpaw sports a 3.61 ERA with a 3-3 record and 48 strikeouts in 47.1 innings. He has allowed just 40 hits and 14 walks with a .229 (40-175) opponents' batting average and posted a 19-inning scoreless streak that was snapped versus Suffolk University on Saturday. The first-time All-GNAC selection ranks second in the conference in innings, third in strikeouts, fourth in complete games (3) and fifth in K/9 (9.13).
McCoomb earns Second Team All-GNAC honors for the second-consecutive season after hitting .326 (31-95) with 20 runs, eight doubles, 11 RBI and four stolen bases as the Monks' starting shortstop.
Meehan wraps up the Monks' impressive list of All-Conference awards, earning a Second Team honor after hitting .275 (25-91) with 16 runs, 11 doubles, eight RBI and four steals in 34 games this season. A sophomore transfer from Husson University, Meehan ranks third in the conference in doubles and has developed into a fine defender in center field for Saint Joseph's.
Saint Joseph's, the top seed in the 2015 GNAC Baseball Tournament, kicked off postseason play with a dominant 7-0 victory over Lasell College on Thursday, but endured an early exit from the tourney after falling to #3 Suffolk University, 3-2, and #2 Johnson & Wales University, 4-2, at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon. The Monks, winners of the previous five GNAC Championships and nine of 10 conference crowns since 2005, are forced to wait until the 2015 NCAA DIII Tournament bracket is announced on Monday, May 11th to learn whether they have earned an at-large berth.
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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.
