STANDISH, Maine – The 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball postseason awards have been announced and nine Saint Joseph's College players have earned accolades.
30th-year Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 headlines the Monks' postseason awards as the 2022 GNAC Baseball Coach of the Year. Sanborn claims the sixth Coach of the Year accolade – and third GNAC top skipper honor – after leading the Monks to a 31-14 (.689) overall record with a 17-1 (.944) mark in conference play this spring. With the nearly flawless league record, St. Joe's earned the GNAC's top seed and the right to host the conference tournament.
For All-Conference accolades, junior catcher Jonathan Dube (Rochester, N.H.), graduate student infielder Drew Healey (Rochester, N.H.), grad student outfielder Ben Gravel (Rochester, N.H.), and freshman pitcher Jason Johnson (Thomaston, Conn.) claimed First Team honors while senior infielder Ronan Chisholm (North Chatham, Mass.) and senior pitcher Matthew Bergeron (Salem, N.H.) collected Second Team awards.
Junior infielder Zach Miles (Concord, N.H.), freshman utility player Michael Wearne (Ellington, Conn.) and junior pitcher Samuel Jalbert (Mascouche, Que.) are listed on the Third Team and round out the Monks' 2022 selections.
Dube claims the first All-Conference honor of his career after hitting .333 (37-111) with 21 runs, five doubles, a home run, 29 RBI and four stolen bases during his first full collegiate season. He capped the year ranked third on the team in RBI and OBP (.457), fourth in runs, hits, and batting average, and fifth in slugging percentage (.405).
Dube also claimed GNAC All-Defensive Team honors after posting a .990 fielding percentage with just two errors in 207 chances. The junior backstop threw out 13-of-37 would-be base stealers for a 35.1% caught stealing rate, the best mark in the conference.
Healey earns All-GNAC honors for the third time after hitting .392 (47-120) with 28 runs, 12 doubles, five home runs, 30 RBI and seven stolen bases during his final college campaign. He closed out the year as the GNAC leader in batting average and OBP (.513) while ranking second in slugging percentage (.617) and walks (22), fifth in doubles, sixth in total bases (74), eighth in hits and home runs, and ninth in RBI.
The four-year starter capped his career hitting .339 (129-380) with 78 runs, 29 doubles, eight home runs, 76 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 140 games. He currently ranks eighth in SJC baseball history in OBP (.470) and is listed among the Monks' all-time leaders in walks (76) and HBP (20).
Healey also garnered GNAC All-Defensive Team accolades after posting a .967 fielding percentage with four errors in 121 chances.
Gravel collects First Team All-Conference accolades for the second-consecutive season after hitting .299 (44-147) with 29 runs, eight doubles, two triples, four home runs, 36 RBI and 11 stolen bases while playing in all 45 of the Monks' games this spring. He finished the year ranked fifth in the GNAC in RBI, sixth in at-bats, seventh in plate appearances (170) and stolen bases, and eighth in walks (21).
Gravel also made 10 appearances on the mound with a 4.50 ERA, a 2-0 record, a pair of saves, and nine strikeouts in 10 innings.
Gravel finished his college career hitting .310 (139-448) with 79 runs, 27 doubles, five triples, nine home runs, 96 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 145 games.
Johnson takes home First Team All-GNAC honors after recording one of the finest seasons ever posted by an SJC freshman pitcher. The rookie righthander made 11 appearances with eight starts and sported a 6-1 record with a 1.05 ERA and 43 strikeouts – versus just 16 walks – in 43 innings this spring. Johnson held opponents to a paltry .191 (29-152) batting average and allowed just one run in his last 26 innings.
Chisholm claims the first All-Conference award of his career after hitting .381 (48-126) with 28 runs, eight doubles, 22 RBI and two stolen bases during the 2022 season. The senior third baseman led the team in hits, ranked second in runs scored and OBP (.463), third in batting average, and fourth in RBI.
Chisholm finishes his college career with a .329 (83-252) batting average, 55 runs, 12 doubles, one triple, 38 RBI and eight stolen bases in 95 contests.
He also earned GNAC All-Defensive Team honors after recording an .886 fielding percentage with 10 errors in 88 total chances this spring.
Bergeron, a 2019 First Team All-GNAC selection, takes home Second Team honors this spring after posting a 7-2 record with 42 strikeouts – and just eight walks – and a 3.75 ERA across 50.1 innings. The 6'7 righthander led the SJC staff in wins and innings and paced all conference hurlers with 1.44 walks per nine innings.
For his career, Bergeron is 17-6 with two saves and a 3.53 ERA with 94 strikeouts and 29 walks in 147.2 innings. He struck out a career-high 7.51 batters per nine innings during his senior campaign.
Miles enjoyed a fine season in his first year as a full-time starter and garnered Third Team All-Conference honors after hitting .282 (37-131) with 16 runs, two doubles, a triple and 11 RBI as one of just two SJC players to play in every game this spring.
An outstanding defensive shortstop, Miles deservedly earned GNAC All-Defensive Team accolades after posting a .955 fielding percentage with just eight errors in 176 total chances while manning the infield's most demanding position.
Wearne emerged as a starter midway through the season, and it is no coincidence that Saint Joseph's posted a 13-1 record with the first-year standout in the lineup. A veritable Swiss Army knife for the Monks, Wearne logged considerable time at six different positions – including on the mound - while hitting .383 (23-60) with 11 runs, three doubles, nine RBI and a pair of stolen bases in 27 games. He finished the season ranked second on the team in batting average.
Jalbert claims the first All-Conference bid of his career after posting a 3.91 ERA with a 4-3 record and 59 strikeouts in 46 innings during his junior season. The April 18th GNAC Pitcher of the Week ranked second in the conference in strikeouts per nine innings (11.54) and third in strikeouts overall.
The junior righthander was dominant in conference play with a 1.55 ERA and a 3-0 record to go with 38 strikeouts in 29 innings versus GNAC foes, who hit just .173 (18-104) against him in 2022.
As the top seed in the 2022 GNAC Tournament, the Monks faced #5 Elms College in a quarterfinal contest on Thursday, May 5th and suffered a 4-0 setback at the hands of the upstart Blazers. Facing an uphill battle coming out of the losers' bracket, Saint Joseph's eliminated #2 Anna Maria College and Elms from the tourney with 4-0 and 12-1 victories, respectively, and forced a winner-take-all game by topping #3 Johnson & Wales University, 6-2, in a must-win game on Championship Sunday. Unfortunately, the Monks ran out of steam and fell to JWU in the title bout by a 21-6 score.
