Odessa, FL - The Saint Joseph's College baseball team continued its amazing start to the 2007 season with two more wins Thursday. In game one, the Monks used a tremendous effort by FY LHP Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook, ME), and a pair of blasts from JR SS Luke Enman (Milan, NH) to bury Drew University 15-2. Game two saw the Royal Blue bats remain hot as they downed Vassar 16-7.
Junior C Andrew Wood (South Portland, ME) kicked off the scoring in game one with an RBI triple. Two innings later Wood's RBI single, coupled with a 3-run double off the bat of Dustin Spiller (Gorham, ME) would put the Monks ahead for good. In the sixth inning Luke Enman blasted his first homerun of the season, a 3-run shot over the right-centerfield fence. An inning later Enman would outdo himself propelling a grand slam to nearly the same spot giving him 7 RBI in the contest.
Wood (2-4, 2 RBI) and Enman (4-5, 7 RBI) were not alone offensively against Drew, SR 3B Mark Clapp (Blue Hill, ME) had a big game going 4-5 with 3 runs scored batting second in the order. Brian Schools (Gorham, ME) was 2-5 with three runs scored, SR Keil Martin (Saco, ME) was 2-4, as was Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, ME).
On the mound for the Monks was FY LHP Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook, ME). Keirstead dazzled in his first collegiate start using only 86 pitches to hold the Rangers to 2 runs in eight innings. The rookie southpaw scattered 9 hits, striking out 2 and not allowing a walk. Fellow rookie Chris Nanof (Clinton, MA) closed out the game pitching a scoreless ninth.
Game two proved to be more of the same for the potent SJC offense scoring 16 runs on 15 hits. Vassar opened the scoring in the first plating 3 runs off of JR starter Ryan Boucher (Manchester, NH). Not to be outdone the Monks answered with 5 runs of their own in the bottom of the opening frame, highlighted by a 2 RBI single by 1B Ben Grant-Roy. Mark Clapp continued his hot hitting with a 3-3 effort in game two. Luke Enman's blockbuster day at the plate continued with a 3-4 nightcap including 2 more RBI and 4 runs scored. Grant-Roy wound up 3-4 with 4 RBI.
Despite allowing 7 runs, Ryan Boucher pitched well enough to earn the win, going 5 1/3 innings and striking out 5 Brewers. Boucher was relieved capably by a trio of Royal Blue hurlers; FY Mike Burdin (Gardiner, ME) pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out one. Sophomore southpaw Cole Filosa (Milford, MA) contributed a scoreless eighth and Junior David Doucette (Ipswich, MA) closed the deal with a shutout ninth.
With the pair of wins Thursday, St. Joe's improves its record to 7-0. The Monks are off to their best start since the 2001 campaign (10-0), a year in which the Monks wound up 38-6. The 2007 squad has done it with an overwhelming offensive attack hitting .402 as a team and averaging almost 13 runs per contest (88 total runs). The pitching staff has gotten the job done as well, sporting a 4.12 team ERA and allowing only 59 hits in 59 innings of play.
The Monks close out the southern portion of their schedule on Friday against Salem State College in non-conference action at 4:00 PM in Tampa, FL. The game scheduled for 7:30 AM against Curry College has been postponed due to travel complications suffered by the Colonels, no makeup date has been set for the game.
