Standish, ME - Saint Joseph's College (30-8, 12-3 NAC) defeated Husson College (14-22, 8-7 NAC) by a count of 8-3 on Sunday in the North Atlantic Conference championship game. The win gives the Monks a berth in the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. The Monks now stand at 30-8 overall, reaching the 30-win plateau for the third consecutive year and for the fifth time under head coach Will Sanborn.

Saint Joseph's got on the board first when sophomore Wade Oliver (Owl's Head, ME) opened the game for the Monks with a double. Senior captain Keil Martin (Saco, ME) dropped down a sacrifice bunt. On the play, Husson pitcher Andrew Patterson's (Brewer, ME) throw sailed out of the reach of 1B Brett Garland (Buxton, ME), scoring Oliver and advancing Martin to second. The Monks were unable to tack on any additional runs due in part to a spectacular diving catch by Eagles centerfielder Brian Biggers (Orlando, FL) to rob Luke Enman of extra bases and double off Martin at second base.

In the bottom of the third inning the Royal Blue bats went back to work, scoring one run on two hits. Oliver singled to open the frame, then advance to second on a Patterson wild pitch. Oliver came in to score when junior Dustin Spiller (Gorham, ME) doubled to centerfield.

Husson got on the board in their half of the fourth inning when Nick Arthers (Belfast, ME) drew a walk then scored on double by Patterson. The Monks would answer though, plating a trio of runs in their half of the fourth. First baseman Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, ME) and catcher Andrew Wood (South Portland, ME) started things with a pair of sharp singles. Both men wound up in scoring position when Husson rightfielder Jeff Miller (Veazie, ME) bobbled Wood's hit. Grant-Roy came in when DH Chris Doughty (Windham, ME) delivered a wall-ball double to deep left, and Wood scored on a Martin sacrifice fly to put the Monks ahead 5-1.

The Eagles took advantage of a pair of walks, a single, and an Arthers sacrifice fly to cut the Monks advantage to 5-2 after five innings.

The Royal Blue would use a two out rally to obtain three insurance runs in the sixth. After a pair of strikeouts, Martin delivered a single. NAC Tournament MVP Luke Enman (Milan, NH) then hit a towering fly ball to deep right field. By the time the the ball came down it was well past the visitors bullpen beyond the rightfield wall. Enman's eighth homer of the year put the Monks up 7-2, but they weren't done quite yet. Spiller connected for a line drive triple to right-centerfield then scored on a wild pitch by Husson reliever Chris Pease (Hampden, ME) to give the home team an 8-2 edge.

Husson made it 8-3 in the eighth when Athers ripped a double to right-center off of St. Joe's reliever Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook, ME). Arthers advanced to third on a single by Patterson and scored on Miller's sacrifice fly to deep center.

Wade Oliver finished the day 2-5 with two runs scored and Enman wound up 3-5 with 3 RBI. Andrew Wood posted a 3-3 championship game, while Grant-Roy and Spiller each chipped in 2 hits.

Veteran southpaw Ben Cutter (Westbrook, ME) picked up the win for the Monks on the mound. Cutter held the Eagles at bay for six strong innings, allowing 2 runs on just 4 hits. Cutter recorded 3 strikeouts en route to upping his personal record to 7-1 on the year. Andrew Keirstead went the final 3 innings to earn the save, his second on the year. Keirstead's final pitch of the afternoon was a called third strike to Husson's Danny White (Dover, ME) causing the Monks bench to erupt in celebration of the NAC tournament championship.

"I couldn't be more proud of this group" said head coach Will Sanborn, who was showered with a cooler full of ice water not once, but twice, by his players following the game. "Coming into the tournament we had been a little inconsistent, but we were able to get focused and get back to basics. We strung together great at-bats all weekend and got some great pitching."

The Monks will have to wait to see what lays ahead for them in the NCAA New England Regional Tournament. The field will be announced sometime in the near future by the NCAA. "Winning the NAC was one of our goals coming into the season, but it was not our final goal. We have been to the regional before, now our goal is to win it."

The Monks will conclude their regular season on Thursday when they will play host to Suffolk University. The non-conference double-header will begin at 1:00 p.m. at beautiful Larry Mahaney Diamond on the campus of Saint Joseph's College.