May 15, 2012

STANDISH, ME – Second-seeded Saint Joseph's College (37-5, 14-2 GNAC) will take on #7 Bowdoin College (25-18, 8-4 NESCAC) in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA DIII Baseball New England Regional Tournament at 7:45 PM on Wednesday at the Mansfield Complex in Mansfield, Connecticut. BRACKET

The double-elimination tourney begins at 10:00 AM on Wednesday when #4 Keene State College (31-13) faces #5 Western New England University (33-11). Play continues at 1:15 PM when #1 Wheaton College (34-8) takes on #8 Bridgewater State University (30-13) and the Monks – Polar Bears matchup is preceded by another opening-day matchup, as #3 Trinity College (32-9) faces off against University of Southern Maine (27-17) at 4:30 PM.

How they got here:

Saint Joseph's, the top seed in the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament, trailed 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth in the GNAC Championship game but scored five unanswered runs to overcome #4 Suffolk University and clinch the program's seventh conference crown in the last eight years. With the victory, the Monks claimed the GNAC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament and St. Joe's will be making its sixth appearance in the New England Regional this spring.

Bowdoin, the #2 seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division, lost in the conference championship game for the third consecutive season but was one of the 16 teams across the country to receive an at-large berth into this year's NCAA tourney.

Recipe for success – Saint Joseph's:

St. Joe's, ranked second in New England (NEIBA, NCAA Region) and 11th in the country (D3baseball.com/NCBWA) according to the latest polls, has won a pile of games with the help of excellent pitching, timely hitting, the ability to handle the bat, and solid defense.

The Monks' pitching staff features both talent and depth. Junior ace Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.), the 2012 GNAC Pitcher of the Year, has proven to be one of the elite pitchers in New England and heads into the regional owning a 9-0 record with a 1.97 ERA and 61 strikeouts – against just 19 walks – in 59.1 innings. Sophomores Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody, Mass.) (3-1, 3.09, 41 K, 43.2 IP), Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine) (6-0, 3.45, 50 K, 44.1 IP) and Nick Whittaker (Yarmouth, Maine) (6-0, 1.75, 32 K, 36 IP) have also been solid starters. Juniors Tyler Laverriere (Biddeford, Maine) (3-1, 2.97, 32 K, 30.1 IP) and Jimmy Kennedy (York, Maine (4-0, 2.22, 15K, 24.1 IP) and freshman Alex Valenti (Lawrence, Mass.) (2-1, 2.43, 28 K, 33.1 IP) also figure prominently in the Monks' pitching plans.

The St. Joe's lineup is one without easy outs, as the Monks feature eight players hitting .300 or better. Freshman Nic Lops (South Portland, Maine/Cheverus), the 2012 GNAC Rookie of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player, leads the SJC offensive attack, hitting a robust .419 (49-117) with 22 runs, five doubles and 28 RBI, while Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) (.359, 33 R, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB), Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) (.358, 12 2B, 22 RBI), Dan Achorn (Bow, N.H.) (.358, 34 R, 10 2B, 19 RBI), Dan Brown (Portland, Maine/Deering) (.356), and Brandon Chase (Naples, Maine) (.342, 25 R, 7 HR, 38 RBI, 7 SB) all go into the tourney hitting north of .340.

Led by the double-play combination of Achorn at short and Chase at second, the Monks are strong up the middle defensively. St. Joe's has turned 37 twin killings this season and, with three outstanding catchers (Coyne, Lops, Willie Brown (Livermore Falls, Maine)), has gunned down 36.2% (17-47) of would-be base-stealers this spring. Junior speedster Nate Martin (Chebeague Island, Maine), who missed a portion of the season due to injury, returns to patrol center field and looks to provide the Royal Blue with contributions in the field, at the bat, and on the basepaths in the tourney.

Recipe for success – Bowdoin:

Much of the Polar Bears' success this season can be attributed to front-line pitching as Bowdoin features a veritable three-headed monster at the head of its staff. Junior righthander Oliver Van Zant (Westport, Conn.) (5-2, 2.20, 89 K, 65.1 IP), sophomore southpaw Christian Martin (Lake Bluff, Ill.) (5-1, 3.00, 49 K, 45 IP) and senior lefty Tim Welch (Portsmouth, N.H.) (4-2, 2.74, 34 K, 46 IP) comprise one of the most potent threesomes in the region. Led by senior closer Ian Edwards (Bangor, Maine) (2-0, 7 SV, 1.38, 21 K, 13 IP), the Polar Bears' bullpen is also solid and features a pair of reliable set-up men in freshman lefty Henry Van Zant (Westport, Conn.) (3-3, 2.43, 25 K, 33.1 IP) and sophomore righty Jay Loughlin (Rockland, Mass.) (2-1, 2 SV, 3.91, 25 K, 25.1 IP).

Oliver Van Zant owns the single-season (89) and career (204) strikeout records at Bowdoin College. 

Bowdoin's lineup features a pair of top hitters in Dan Findley (Duxbury, Mass.) (.346, 11 2B, 30 RBI) and Tim McGarry (Kennett Square, Pa.) (.320, 10 2B, 4 3B, 29 RBI, 14 SB).

 

Attitude reflects leadership:

St. Joe's Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 is in the midst of his 20th season as the Monks' skipper and has guided his program to 14 titles during his tenure. Sanborn, currently 540-283-5 (.656) in his career, is the winningest coach in SJC Athletics history.

Bowdoin Head Coach Mike Connolly, now in his 14th season at the helm for the Polar Bears, has recorded a 275-223-1 (.552) career record. The 2004 NESCAC Coach of the Year, Connolly is the most successful coach in Bowdoin baseball history, which dates all the way back to 1867.

 

The last time we met:

Bowdoin defeated Saint Joseph's, 9-4, at Larry Mahaney Diamond on April 9th. The Monks currently own a 22-20-3 record in the history of the series with the Polar Bears and had defeated their in-state rival in seven consecutive meetings prior to the five-run setback.

The nine runs allowed in the loss to Bowdoin that afternoon tied a season-high, as the Monks have allowed more than five runs in a game just eight times all season long.

2012 season synopsis:

Saint Joseph's is in the midst of one of the finest seasons in program history and currently owns the best win-loss record in all of NCAA DIII Baseball. The team started off the year with an 8-1 record against a tough list of opponents during spring break and three of the Monks' five losses have been by two runs or less. Also, The St. Joe's heads into regional play just two wins shy of breaking the school record for victories (38) in a season (softball 1996, baseball, 2001).

The Polar Bears finished as the 2012 New England Small College Athletic Conference runners-up and garnered an at-large selection due largely to a strength-of-schedule percentage that ranked fourth in all of NCAA Division III Baseball.

NCAA Tournament history:

St. Joe's will be making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance over the last seven seasons when tourney play begins on Wednesday. Ironically, the Monks' first NCAA tourney game was against the Polar Bears in 2006 with both teams earning the same seeds as they have this season. Saint Joseph's, featuring current Seattle Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush on the mound, erased a 6-0 deficit with nine consecutive runs en route to a 9-7 victory over Bowdoin on May 17th, 2006 at Whitehouse Field in Harwich, Massachusetts.

The Monks went on to lose the next two games that spring and suffered six consecutive NCAA Tournament losses during a three-year span before breaking out with three elimination-round victories in 2010 (Worcester State, Western New England and Wheaton) and a pair of victories (Wheaton, Tufts) last season.

Bowdoin will be making its second NCAA Tournament appearance and is in search of the program's first national tourney triumph. After falling to the Monks in the 2006 regional, the Polar Bears were eliminated from contention the following day with a 10-8 loss at the hands of Middlebury College.