STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (22-13, 8-6 GNAC) defeated Albertus Magnus College (10-24, 6-8 GNAC) in a GNAC preliminary, single-elimination playoff game on Tuesday, 10-6. SJC starting pitcher SO Pat Moran (Winterport, ME) went seven innings, scattered seven hits, allowed two walks and two earned runs and whiffed seven to earn the victory on the mound. Senior Luke Enman (Milan, NH) went 2-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI's and a triple and sophomore Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, ME) was 2-4 and hit his sixth home run of the season in the must-win contest.

The Monks scored three runs in the first, all with two outs. After JR Wade Oliver (Owls Head, ME) and SR Brian Schools (Gorham, ME) both grounded out, Enman walked, Grant-Roy singled and SR Dustin Spiller (Gorham, ME) walked to load the bases. FY Ian Lee (Hampden, ME) provided the big hit with a single to send home Enman and Grant-Roy and Spiller scored when the Albertus Magnus right fielder made a throwing error on the play to put St. Joe's up by three after one inning of play.

The Falcons countered with a two-run home run to left off the bat of third baseman Erik Suraci (West Haven, CT) to put a dent in the SJC lead, 3-2.

The Monks hitters responded to score five runs in the bottom of the second to gain a commanding 8-2 advantage. FY Eric LaBatte (Rochester, NH) led off with a double down the leftfield line, SR Andrew Wood (South Portland, ME) walked and Oliver laid down a sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Next up was Schools, who singled to plate LaBatte. Enman then blasted a triple, his seventh this season, off the 380 sign near the triangle in center field to knock home two runs and Grant-Roy followed with his sixth home run of the season, a two run blast to left field.

The Monks tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pad their lead, 10-2. Enman singled home Oliver in the 4th and FY Todd Keneborus (Hollis Center, ME) recorded an RBI single in the 5th when he sent home Spiller, who had reached with a leadoff triple in the inning.

The Falcons managed to score a run on an error by SJC pitcher Pat Moran in the 7th to lessen the Royal Blue lead to 10-3. FY Chris Dion (Lawrence, MA) came on in relief in the 8th and gave up two runs, both with two outs, as Albertus Magnus crept back into the game with the score now 10-5.

SO Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook, ME) came on in the ninth to close out the game, but the Falcons had other ideas as Suraci led off the inning with a double and scored on a B.J. Ferraro (New Haven, CT) single with one out to make it a 10-6 game. Keirstead got the groundball he needed from the next AMC batter, Luis Rosario (New Haven, CT), as he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game with the Monks on top, 10-6.

For the Monks, Dustin Spiller was 2-3 with 2 runs and Ian Lee was 2-4 with 2 RBI's.

For the Falcons, Kyle Calechman (North Haven, CT), Chris Noske (South Windsor, CT) and Erik Suraci each had three hits for the Falcons. Starting pitcher J.R. Bagley (Middletown, CT) allowed 7 earned runs and 6 hits in 1.1 innings to take the loss.

The Monks advance to the double-elimination and will play at #1 seed Suffolk University (23-8, 14-0 GNAC) on Thursday, April 24th at 5:00 PM. The quarterfinal contest will be played at Adams Field in Quincy, MA.