Standish, ME- For the first time in the 2007 season, the St. Joseph's College baseball team lost both ends of a doubleheader. The Suffolk University Rams won a pair of games on Thursday at Mahaney Diamond, 8-6 and 6-4. The Monks have played twelve doubleheaders on the year, sweeping six, splitting five and now suffering a sweep at the hands of the Rams.

Suffolk Junior Steve Durant (Malden, ME) went the distance in game one to earn the victory. With the game scoreless through the first three innings, Suffolk used 2 hits and a Monks error to plate 2 runs.

In the bottom of the inning, the Royal Blue mounted a 3-run rally to take the lead. Senior Keil Martin (Saco, ME) led off with a double before advancing to third on a single by shortstop Luke Enman (Milan, NH). Martin came in to score on an RBI groundout to shortstop by centerfielder Dustin Spiller (Gorham, ME). After a walk to first baseman Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, ME) rookie catcher Travis Adams (Saco, ME) delivered an RBI single to plate Enman. Grant-Roy scored the final run of the frame when senior DH Chris Doughty (Windham, ME) reached on an error.

In the top of the sixth, Suffolk used a pair of two-run homers to jump out to a 6-3 advantage. Junior Greg DiMarco (Newton, MA) connected for his second homer of the year and then freshman Tom Kelly (Milton, ME) hit his first collegiate homerun. Both blasts came at the expense of Monks reliever Cole Filosa (Milford, MA).

In the seventh, the Rams added two insurance runs off of Monks reliever Andy Pooler (Southwest Harbor, ME). Suffolk used 4 hits and a Royal Blue error to expand their lead to 8-3. In the home half of the seventh, the Monks refused to go quietly. Doughty started things off with a double to left, followed by a Brian Schools (Gorham, ME) single. Doughty came in to score on an RBI groundout by Wade Oliver (Owl's Head, ME). Schools came in to score when Luke Enman's hard-liner to right field was mishandled. After a walk to Spiller, third baseman Mark Clapp (Blue Hill, ME) delivered an RBI single, scoring Enman and cutting the lead to 8-6. The rally could go no further however, as Durant was able to strike Grant-Roy out to end the game.

In game two, the Monks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Rams struck back to take a 2-1 advantage after two full innings. After six complete innings, Suffolk held on to a 4-3 lead.

In the seventh inning, the Rams pushed their lead to 6-3 on the strength of two hits and an error off of two St. Joe's relief pitchers. In the bottom of the frame, the Monks again provided a threat. Clapp opened the inning with a triple to the deepest part of the ballpark in centerfield, then scored on a single by Luke Enman to cut the lead to 6-4. Catcher Andrew Wood (South Portland, ME) reached on a fielder's choice and leftfielder Ricky Sarmento (Lowell, MA) drew a two-out walk. Keil Martin hit a chopper to shortstop and hustled hard down the line to make it a bang-bang play. Martin was ruled out ending the Royal Blue comeback attempt.

On the day, the Monks used nine different pitchers. Filosa (1-1) took the loss in game one and first-year RHP Craig Woodbrey (Gorham, ME) suffered the loss in game two to run his record to 1-1 on the year. Kyle Dorr (Berwick, ME) was outstanding out of the Monks bullpen, tossing three perfect innings in game two.

"A lot of guys got work in today, which is pretty important as we move forward to the next phase of our season" commented head coach Will Sanborn. "I wasn't very happy with our level of intensity today, we need to play at a certain level every day to be successful and today I just didn't see it."

With the losses, the Monks finish the regular season with a 30-10 mark. Suffolk finishes its regular season at 23-14.

The Monks will go on to represent the North Atlantic Conference in the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament. Details for the tournament have not yet been announced.