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| Pat Moran '10 |
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| Andrew Keirstead
'10 |
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| Luke Enman
'08 |
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NASHUA, NH - (BOXSCORE)
Saint Joseph's College (25-13, 8-6 GNAC) defeated top seed Suffolk
University (25-10, 14-0 GNAC), 6-5, in the GNAC Championship game
on Sunday at Holman Stadium in Nashua, NH. The conference title secures
a bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament, the Monks' third consecutive
berth, which takes place May 14-17th. Starting pitcher SO Pat
Moran (Winterport, ME) allowed 5 hits and struck
out 4 in 7.2 strong innings against the Rams to pick up his fourth
win and SO Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook,
ME) tossed 1.1 innings in relief to notch his second save of the season.
SR Luke Enman (Milan, NH), SO Ben
Grant-Roy (Biddeford, ME) and FY Todd
Keneborus (Hollis Center, ME) all had two hits apiece
and Enman hit his seventh home run of the year, a
solo shot in the eighth, in the victory.
Enman, Moran and JR Wade
Oliver (Owls Head, ME), who made a handful of highlight-reel
plays over the weekend, were all named to the All-Tournament Team
and Keirstead was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player.
The Monks took advantage of two Suffolk errors in the first inning
to stake an early 2-0 lead and Grant-Roy singled
home two runs in the second to give the Royal Blue a 4-0 advantage.
Suffolk used a pair of SJC miscues in the fifth to score twice and
decrease the Monks’ lead to 4-2.
St. Joe’s sophomore catcher and 2008 GNAC Rookie of the Year
Ian Lee (Hampden, ME) led off the
bottom of the fifth by lacing a ground-rule double down the left field
line. With one out, Keneborus hit a single to move
Lee to third and SO Mike Burdin
(Gardiner, ME) hit a sac fly to center field off Rams reliever SR
Steve Durant (Malden, MA) to give the Monks a 5-2 lead.
The Rams refused to accept elimination without a fight and made it
a one-run game in the eighth when JR Keith Carter (Newburyport, MA)
hit a two-run home run to deep left off Moran to
make the score 5-4, St. Joe’s.
2008 GNAC Player of the Year Luke Enman
provided the Monks with an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth
with an opposite field solo blast. The run proved to be an important
one as SR Greg DiMarco (Newton, MA) hit a solo shot off SJC reliever
Andrew Keirstead with one out in
the top of the ninth to again make it a one-run contest. The crafty
southpaw whiffed the next Suffolk batter and induced a groundout for
the final out of the game.
The conference title is the fourth straight for the Monks, as the
Royal Blue captured three consecutive North Atlantic Conference titles
(2005-07) prior to joining the GNAC this season.
Starting pitcher JR Tim Doyle (Milton, MA) takes the loss for the
Rams and allowed 4 hits and 4 runs, 2 earned, in 1.2 innings. Carter
was 2-4 with 2 RBI’s in the Suffolk setback.
The Monks will host Little East opponent Keene State College (NH)
on Tuesday, April 29th in a single game that is scheduled to begin
at 4:00 PM.
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