HARWICH, MA – Senior catcher Ian Lee (Hampden, ME) capped a lengthy at bat with a walk-off two-run double in the bottom of the 11th to lift #6 Saint Joseph's (32-14) past #1 Tufts University (27-9-1), 4-3, in an elimination game of the 2011 NCAA DIII Baseball New England Regional Tournament on Friday afternoon. The Monks stay alive in the tourney with the thrilling victory and will face #3 Wheaton College in another elimination contest tonight at 8:00 PM. Tufts bows out of the tournament with the loss.

In the bottom of the eighth, St. Joe's trailed 2-1 but knotted the game with a perfectly executed safety squeeze play. The Monks had one out and a runner on third in the bottom of the 10th, but a failed squeeze bunt attempt resulted in an inning-ending double play. The Jumbos managed to take the lead after a hit batsman and back to back base knocks in the top of the 11th.

With the season on the line and one out in the bottom of the frame, Sam Butts '13 (Saco, ME) reached first base on an infield error and sprinted to third when Todd Keneborus '11 (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus) lined a single down the right field line. Tufts ace reliever Ed Bernstein, the 2011 New England Pitcher of the Year, went on to fan Mike Pratt '13 (Dartmouth, MA) for the second out of the inning to bring Lee up to the plate. The senior captain, who clearly had no plans of calling it a career, closed out a nine-pitch at bat with a line drive double to the right-center gap, plating Butts and Keneborus for the win.

For the Monks, Keneborus went 3-5 with a run, an RBI and a triple, Nate Martin '13 (Chebeague Island, ME) was 3-4, and Dan Achorn '12 (Bow, NH) rapped two singles in four trips to the plate.

SJC starting pitcher Kevin Chamberlain '11 (Scarborough, ME) allowed two runs off six hits and a pair of walks with six K's in eight innings but did not factor into the decision. Fellow senior Chris Dion (Lawrence, MA) retired both batters he faced in the top of the ninth and Joe Gruntkosky '14 (Peabody, MA) improved to 4-2 on the year after allowing one run off three hits in 2.1 innings.

For the Jumbos, third baseman Sam Sager was 3-5 with a double and an RBI, David Orlowitz went 2-4 with a run and an RBI, and Nate Izzo added two hits in three at bats with a run scored in the losing effort.

Tufts senior starter Pat O'Donnell allowed two runs (one earned) off seven hits over seven innings and Bernstein (2-1) suffered the setback after giving up two unearned runs off four hits in 3.2 innings of relief.

Chamberlain was excellent out of the gate and perfect through three, but an errant 2-0 pitch nicked Tufts leadoff batter David LeResche and the following hitter, Orlowitz, laced a single into left field to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Sager stepped up to the dish and slapped a double to left to lift the Jumbos to a 1-0 lead.

With runners on second and third and no one out Chamberlain notched a big strikeout, setting down Tufts cleanup hitter Eric Weikert on a curveball, and the following batter was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Chamberlain maneuvered his way and escaped the jam with minimal damage, as the tall righthander induced an infield fly and a fly out to center to keep the score at 1-0 after three and a half frames.

In the bottom of the sixth the Monks got a leadoff single for the third straight inning when Martin stroked a line drive to center field.

After potential SJC scoring opportunities were negated by double play balls in the fourth and fifth innings, the Royal Blue mustered a run in the bottom of the sixth to knot the game at one apiece. Martin opened the inning with a line drive single to center and promptly moved up a bag on a Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester, NH) sacrifice bunt. Two batters later Keneborus, who had been relatively quiet with the bat in the tourney, smashed a 2-2 fastball to right center for an RBI triple to make it a 1-1 game.

Izzo worked a walk to start the top of the eighth for the Jumbos and moved to second on a sac bunt. Orlowitz knocked his teammate home to put his team up 2-1, but was thrown out at second and Sager flew out to center to end the inning.

Saint Joseph's tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a run of its own. Junior third baseman Dan Brown (Portland, ME/Deering) led off the bottom of the eighth with a swinging bunt single down the third base line and scampered to second when O'Donnell, who fielded the ball, overthrew first base. After the play, Brandon Chase '13 (Naples, ME) entered the game in place of Brown at second and Bernstein came on in relief of O'Donnell on the hill.

Martin greeted the Jumbos' closer with a bunt single to give the Monks runners on first and third with one out and Campbell dropped down an ideal bunt to third on a safety squeeze call and Chase slid into home just before the tag was applied on the return throw from first to tie the game, 2-2, heading into the ninth.

Both teams were shutout in the ninth and Tufts went scoreless in the top of tenth. Achorn started off the bottom half of the frame with a base knock to right, his second hit of the day, moved to second on a bunt by Chase, and wound up on third when Bernstein uncorked a wild pitch. With one out and a 2-2 count, Martin was called on to squeeze Chase home for the winning run, but he bunted a soft liner to Bernstein, who easily caught the ball and flipped it to third for an inning-ending twin-killing.

Tufts went on to score the go-ahead run in the top of the eleventh off a hit batsman and consecutive singles. Gruntkosky plunked Orlowitz with a 2-2 fastball and Sager followed with a bloop single to shallow left. First baseman Erik Weikert, 0-4 with three K's entering the at bat, lined a single to left field to score Orlowitz and put the Jumbos on top by one. With runners on first and third with one out, Gruntkosky induced a 4-6-3 double play to prevent further damage.

As it turned out, Gruntkosky's ability to minimize the Jumbos' threat in the top of the 11th proved to be huge and set the stage for Lee's two-run double in the bottom of the frame.

Lee's effort behind the plate was perhaps more impressive than his performance with the bat, as the senior receiver – who has caught all 29 innings of the regional tournament thus far - cut down all three would-be basestealers and called a great game for three different pitchers.

For the Monks, the exciting win evens the score with the Jumbos, who defeated the Royal blue by a 6-5 margin in 11 innings last spring in the NCAA DIII Tournament. Tufts was the top seed in the 2010 New England Regional as well.