STANDISH, ME – The NCAA DIII Tournament selections have been announced, and Saint Joseph's College (32-11, 11-3 GNAC) has been named as the #8 seed in the New England Regional Tournament, which begins on Wednesday at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut.
St. Joe's will face off against top-seeded Tufts University (31-5, 10-2 NESCAC) on Wednesday at 1:15 PM. Live scoring and video feeds are available, along with all pertinent tournament information, at the following link: 2010 NCAA Division III New England Baseball Regional Official Home Page.
After a one-year hiatus, Saint Joseph's returns to the New England Regional for the program's fourth appearance in the last five years. St. Joe's earned the GNAC automatic qualifier into the tourney when the Monks defeated Suffolk University, 5-4, in the GNAC Championship in East Providence, RI on May 2nd.
Tufts defeated Bowdoin College, 6-1, in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament on May 9th to receive the automatic berth awarded to the NESCAC. For the Jumbos, the NCAA Tournament appearance is the program's third in the last 16 years and first since the 2002 campaign.
The Monks enter the double-elimination tourney having won 16 of their last 18 games with a 23-4 record in the months of April and May. Seven of the team's losses have come by one run and the Monks' 11 defeats have been by a total of 22 runs. Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 carries a 468-271-6 (.642) record into the regional and became the winningest single-sport head coach in SJC Athletics history with the GNAC-title win over Suffolk.
The top-seeded Jumbos have notched a 23-3 record since the beginning of April and have won eight consecutive games heading into the regional. Tufts Head Coach John Casey registered the 500th win of his career in the NESCAC title game and sports a 500-322-3 (.608) record in his illustrious 27 years as the Jumbos' skipper. Casey is the 53rd coach in NCAA DIII Baseball history, and seventh in the New England Region, to reach the 500-win milestone.
The winner of the New England Regional advances to the NCAA DIII World Series, an eight-team double-elimination tourney which will be played at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin with the first round beginning on May 28th.
2010 New England Regional Tournament Seeds:
#1 Tufts University (31-5, 10-2 NESCAC)
#2 Wheaton College (32-8, 11-1 NEWMAC)
#3 Western New England (33-10, 17-5 TCCC)
#4 Eastern Connecticut (30-13, 10-4 LEC)
#5 Worcester State (31-9-1, 10-4 MASCAC)
#6 Westfield State (30-9, 12-2 MASCAC)
#7 UMass.-Boston (27-15, 8-6 LEC)
# 8 Saint Joseph's (32-11, 11-3 GNAC)
NCAA DIII BASEBALL REGIONAL SELECTIONS
