STANDISH, Maine – With a 4-3 walk-off win over Rivier University on Sunday, April 8th, Saint Joseph's College Baseball Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 notched the 700th victory of his collegiate career.
Sanborn, now in his 26th season as the Monks' skipper, is the winningest head coach in Saint Joseph's College Athletics history and first to reach the 700-victory mark. Now 702-370-5 (.655) over the course of his career, Sanborn is just the 37th individual to record 700 or more victories in the history of NCAA DIII Baseball.
He is the sixth New England coach to hit the milestone and joins Ed Flaherty (Southern Maine, 987-441) and John Casey (Tufts, 709-404) as one of three active DIII Baseball coaches who have surpassed the 700-victory mark. Sanborn holds the third-highest winning percentage (.655) among the eight New England coaching legends and is the only skipper on the list to have coached fewer than 30 seasons.
NEW ENGLAND COACHES WITH 700 CAREER WINS |
Of the eight NCAA DIII New England coaches who have hit the 700-victory mark, only two have reached the plateau faster than Sanborn. Eastern Connecticut's Bill Holowaty and Southern Maine's Ed Flaherty both surpassed the milestone during their 24th seasons.
During his 25 years as the Monks' skipper, Sanborn has won 20 championships, including 15 conference crowns and five NAIA New England titles, with 22 winning seasons. Saint Joseph's has reached the 25-victory plateau in 18 of Sanborn's 25 years and posted 30 or more wins on 12 occasions.
The Monks have been particularly strong since the start of the 2005 season. Over the last 13 years, Saint Joseph's has posted an incredible 420-173 (.708) overall record, including an otherworldly 154-30 (.837) mark versus conference foes.
Over this 13-year span, St. Joe's has made eight NCAA DIII Tournament appearances with an ECAC Tournament berth in 2005. In the New England Regional, the Monks have been seeded as high as #2 on a pair of occasions and have won 11 NCAA tourney games, including 10 over the past four appearances.
In yet another testament to the program's winning ways, Saint Joseph's has notched at least 30 victories in 10 of the past 13 seasons – a feat achieved by just two New England programs.
NCAA DIII BASEBALL 700 VICTORY CLUB (totals current as of 4/11/18)
RK | NAME | YRS | W | L | T | W% | AVG WINS | TEAM(S) |
1 | Gordie Gillespie | 59 | 1893 | 952 | 1 | .665 | 32.1 | Lewis, St. Francis, Ripon |
2 | Don Schaly | 40 | 1438 | 329 | 13 | .814 | 36.0 | Marietta |
3 | Bill Holowaty | 45 | 1412 | 528 | 7 | .728 | 31.4 | Eastern Conn. |
4 | Mike Fox * | 35 | 1407 | 512 | 5 | .733 | 40.2 | NC Wesleyan, UNC |
5 | Jim Mallon | 34 | 1196 | 602 | 1 | .665 | 35.2 | Southwestern (TX) |
6 | Tim Petteroni # | 37 | 1189 | 438 | 6 | .731 | 32.1 | College of Wooster |
7 | George Valesente # | 46 | 1155 | 528 | 8 | .686 | 25.1 | New Paltz, SUNY-Maritime, Ithaca College |
8 | Tom Austin # | 39 | 1144 | 530 | 10 | .683 | 29.3 | Methodist |
9 | Bob Babb # | 39 | 1125 | 419 | 15 | .729 | 28.8 | Johns Hopkins |
10 | Don Brandon | 39 | 1110 | 588 | 5 | .654 | 28.5 | Anderson (IN) |
11 | John Ostrowski | 43 | 990 | 788 | 16 | .557 | 23.0 | Benedictine |
12 | Ed Flaherty # | 33 | 987 | 441 | 4 | .691 | 29.9 | Southern Maine |
13 | Augie Schmidt # | 31 | 906 | 422 | 5 | .682 | 29.2 | Carthage |
14 | Jeff Albies | 33 | 860 | 401 | 15 | .682 | 26.1 | William Paterson |
15 | Rick Heller * | 31 | 850 | 664 | 4 | .561 | 27.4 | Upper Iowa, UNI, Indiana St., Iowa |
16 | Karl Steffen # | 34 | 844 | 460 | 3 | .647 | 24.8 | Rensselaer |
17 | Bill Thurston | 44 | 811 | 471 | 12 | .633 | 18.4 | Amherst |
18 | Dennis Martel # | 31 | 796 | 502 | 3 | .613 | 25.7 | Illinois-Wesleyan |
19 | Dick Naylor | 36 | 791 | 576 | 2 | .579 | 22.0 | Hanover |
20 | Rick Ferchen # | 35 | 790 | 578 | 18 | .577 | 22.6 | Valparaiso, Bobart, Oneonta, Keuka |
21 | Joel Holst # | 28 | 789 | 408 | 4 | .659 | 28.2 | Loras, Wartburg |
22 | Curt Kendall # | 33 | 772 | 499 | 10 | .607 | 23.4 | Bridgewater (VA) |
23 | Yogi Lutz # | 29 | 764 | 347 | 6 | .688 | 26.3 | Alvernia |
24 | Jeff Jenkins # | 32 | 759 | 518 | 2 | .594 | 23.7 | Heidleberg, Bethany, Rose-Hulman |
25 | Jim Page # | 30 | 759 | 462 | 3 | .622 | 25.3 | Millsaps |
26 | Bruce Wheeler | 33 | 756 | 529 | 4 | .588 | 22.9 | UMass.-Dartmouth |
27 | Jerry Haugen # | 41 | 734 | 639 | 5 | .535 | 17.9 | Saint John's (MN) |
28 | Tom Lechnir | 25 | 728 | 292 | 1 | .714 | 29.1 | Wisc.-Oshkosh |
29 | Norm Schoenig | 26 | 724 | 409 | 13 | .639 | 27.8 | Montclair State |
30 | Bucky Burgau | 40 | 711 | 619 | 6 | .535 | 17.8 | Concordia (MN) |
31 | John Casey # | 35 | 709 | 404 | 5 | .637 | 20.3 | Tufts |
32 | Tim Neiman | 28 | 708 | 397 | 5 | .641 | 25.3 | DeSales |
33 | Rick Dell | 26 | 707 | 331 | 10 | .681 | 27.2 | TCNJ |
34 | Pete Varney | 34 | 705 | 526 | 6 | .573 | 20.7 | Brandeis |
35 | Marty Slimak # | 25 | 704 | 337 | 8 | .676 | 28.2 | Cal Lutheran |
36 | Will Sanborn # | 26 | 702 | 370 | 5 | .655 | 27.0 | Saint Joseph's |
37 | Joe Brown # | 19 | 700 | 179 | 3 | .796 | 36.8 | SUNY-Cortland |
38 | Bob Fisher | 42 | 700 | 641 | 14 | .522 | 16.7 | Baldwin Wallace |