BB: GNAC: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[Stump]

I was in Portland area yesterday on business so I decided to drive to Standish (not as close as it looked on the map!) to check out the Monks.  They beat Daniel Webster College 9-6. 
I was surprised to see that it was a close game, but former Monks pitcher JP Pine's team gave them a fight.  SJC certainly has some pop in the lineup.  I expected them to beat up on a 2-15 team, wondering if they took their opponent lightly?

JP Pynes Eagles actually outhit the Monks 14-11. I think it may be some taking their opponent lightly and part that the Monks have not hit anything resembling decent pitching well all year.

It showed again today as St. Joes could only manage a split with UM-Farmington with a total of 12 hits in the DH to 14 for Beavers. Also the defense was less than stellar in the loss(only charged with 2 errors but it was more like double that number, at least) I think that may be the evidence of taking the opponent lightly(a couple spots in field seemed to be going through the motions) Very poor showing. After winning first game, (close game but solid win) I think the Monks thought they would cruise to an easy victory. Pendleton for UMF threw a very good game and Monks never really made any adjustments to his stuff.

St. Joe's has some pop in their lineup but it has often come up short against better pitching. Team BA is .349 but removing last weeks stat inflating .509 against Rivier & Lasell the team BA falls to .295 with some better teams down the road.

[Stump]

Better effort today for St. Joe's(9-1 GNAC 18-9 overall) as they take 2 from lowly Norwich(0-10, 0-20-1). First game was a struggle as Norwich's Austin Shaw kept the Monks off balance and hitting the ball at people but the Monks finally rallied to win 3-2 behind a 12 strikeout 3 hit gem by Pat Moran(5-0). The second game was 7-1 with Andrew Kierstead tossed a great game allowed 3 hits with 4 K's over 6 innings to advance to 4-1.

Solid effort all around today with excellent pitching, timely hitting and good honest defense, maybe Friday's stinker was a wakeup call for the Monks.

[Stump]

Wow! that's quite a schedule for Emerson this week.  DH w/Rivier today. Salem Wed. then DH Fri,Sat,Sun,& Mon Albertus,St' Joe's, Lasell, & J&W. And then a potential playoff game Tues. Yikes!

[TheGNAC]

Suffolk took two from Albertus Magnus today, moving the Rams to 21-4 on the year and tied with St. Joe's for 1st in the GNAC at 9-1.

Next weekend's games are shaping up to be really interesting. St. Joe's has Emerson Saturday, while Suffolk has Lasell on Saturday. I expect both teams to sweep those games, setting up the final weekend showdown between Suffolk and St. Joe's up in Standish for all the marbles on Sunday. Should be a great two games, for sure.

Also, it's interesting to note Johnson and Wales has a definite chance to win out in the conference, as well. They have Albertus and Norwich next weekend, and if they go 4-0, and Suffolk and St. Joe's split, there's a 3-way tie atop the GNAC, and only two clubs get 1st round byes. Anyone know the tiebreakers?

[Stump]

Big doubleheader in at beautiful Larry Mahaney Diamond on the shores of Sebago Lake today. Although now it's just for seeding after Johnson & Wales drops 2 to Albertus Magnus in New Haven Sat. Should be a beautiful day for baseball all over New England. Get out and enjoy a game somewhere!

[Stump]

St. Joe's sweeps Suffolk to take GNAC regular season championship.  Pat Moran hits 7th inning leadoff walk off HR to win 1st game 6-5. Moran wins 2nd game 5-2 pitching a 5 hit 9 K complete game. Moran's record moves to 6-0 with 1 save lowering his ERA to 2.25.

2 very good college baseball teams, 2 very good baseball games.
Beautiful day in Maine, sunny and probably 15 degrees warmer than forecast.

St Joe's moves to 25-10(13-1 GNAC) Suffolk 24-7(11-3 GNAC)

Next up GNAC tourney starting Tues(weather permitting)forecast sounds nasty.

[soxfan42585]

no need for tie breakers, is the gnac tourny still double elim?

[TheGNAC]

St. Joe's sweeps Suffolk to take GNAC regular season championship.  Pat Moran hits 7th inning leadoff walk off HR to win 1st game 6-5. Moran wins 2nd game 5-2 pitching a 5 hit 9 K complete game. Moran's record moves to 6-0 with 1 save.

2 very good college baseball teams, 2 very good baseball games.
Beautiful day in Maine, sunny and probably 15 degrees warmer than forecast.

St Joe's moves to 25-10(13-1 GNAC) Suffolk 24-7(11-3 GNAC)

Next up GNAC tourney starting Tues(weather permitting)forecast sounds nasty.

What a day for Pat Moran. Hits a walk off home run to end game one, and tosses a complete game in game two with 9 strikeouts. His stat line is also very impressive. .404 BA, 8 HR, 6-0 record, 2.25 ERA, 62 K's. Could make a run at an All-American selection at the utility position this season.

Johnson and Wales took a lot of the oomph out of today's matchup by dropping both games with Albertus yesterday, though. Both Suffolk and St. Joe's were guaranteed 1st round byes going into today's games, and both should win their opening round game on Thursday. In my opinion, these two clubs are so much better than everybody else in the GNAC, it's all but guaranteed they'll meet each other in the finals on Sunday. Question is, who goes in from the winner's bracket, and who goes from the loser's bracket. That's what really makes the difference, here. Should be quite the weekend up in Standish.

As an aside, not sure if anybody took in the games today, but it's becoming pretty apparent there's not much love lost between Suffolk and St. Joe's. These two teams really dislike each other, as evidenced by the back and forth going on all day long. Competition is nice to see, but I hope these two teams can keep it somewhat friendly and not go overboard this weekend. We'll see what happens.

[Stump]

Tourney starts Tues with #6@#3 and #5@#4. Double elim from there. Thurs Quarterfinal games are Tues. winners @ #1 & #2. Semifinals are Sat @ St. Joe's with the finals Sun @ St. Joe's.

It's worth the trip to see a game at beautiful Larry Mahaney diamond on the shores of Sebago Lake.

[Stump]

I think a good part of the "dislike" is the fact that the 2 teams are by far the best in the GNAC and are the only ones I saw with the combination of talent and intensity that make the game fun to watch.  I could count the number of conference games this year that had the feel of a true college baseball game on one hand and have several fingers left over.  Many of the games I saw were like a college team playing a poor high school team. Not fun or entertaining for anyone(players, coaches or fans)
I will echo the thought that I hope the games stay somewhat friendly(or civil at least).

[Knuckles97]

I think that everything will be alright in terms of in-game behavior.  Will Sanborn seems to be about as classy a coach as I have seen in my 20 years watching college baseball in New England.  While Cary McConnell may have a penchant for running up scores, I think he has enough control over his team to stay focused on the prize.

Let's hope that it does come down to these two teams, because they are clearly the class of the GNAC.  However, they better stay focused because J&W can beat either of them if they get the chance...I just wish the GNAC Tournament was a week later.

Should be interesting...

[soxfan42585]

rainouts...

[Stump]

Big comeback win for St. Joe's over Johnson & Wales 9-8. Down 8-1 going into 7th, scored 4 each in 7th and 8th.  Andrew Kierstead starts, does 2.1 innings gives up 6(only 2 earned). Gave up 4 in the first  but should have been out of the inning, a 2 out error at third led to all 4 runs. Kevin Chamberlain and Mason Roberge held J&W through the 8th to keep the Monks in the game. Pat Moran came in for the 9th and earned the save(2nd of the year)

Bobby Gilbert pitched six strong innings for J&W, keeping St. Joe's off balance. It looked like he ran out of gas in the 7th giving up 4(only 1 earned). I was surprised he came out for the 8th. Game up a HR to Moran then a walk and a single(both would eventually score) before being replaced. By the time he was replaced the game had slipped away from J&W. Some poor defense in addition to timely St. Joe's hitting victimized J&W.

Johnson & Wales will face Albertus Magnus tomorrow in an elimination game at 10 AM at St. Joe's while St. Joe's will face Suffolk at 2 PM

[Stump]

Congratulations to Suffolk on winning GNAC tourney.  St. Joe's forced the if needed game by winning the first game 6-5 scoring 1 in 8th to tie and 2  to win in 9th. Very good pitching performances from starters Reid Jackson(complete game) and Kevin Chamberlain(7.2 innings) with Chris Dion finishing and picking up the win.

The second game was a very good complete game pitching performance from Alex Torres. St. Joe's ran out of pitching and any hint of effective pitching was quickly let down by the defense.

All weekend the Monk's defense seemed to be making errors to extend an inning putting extra pressure on the pitching staff.  Neither Moran or Keirstead was effective all weekend.

On a side note: it didn't really make much difference in the outcomes, but the umpiring crew was poor at best.  They missed calls and the strike zone often seemed to be a moving target. It makes for a long and frustrating weekend when you spend almost as much time noticing the umpires as you do watching the game.  The best umpire in the world is the one you never even notice during a game. The crew this weekend was almost a circus sideshow for being noticed.  You expect better out a crew doing a college baseball tournament.  I try to give umps the benefit of the doubt but this weekend was ridiculous. Again I'll say it didn't make a real difference in outcomes so it's not sour grapes but it sure interfered with the enjoyment of the game. Just venting a little, there now I feel better

[TheGNAC]

What a whirlwind weekend in the GNAC up in Standish! Congratulations to Suffolk University on winning the conference tournament, as they're making their 1st trip to the regionals since 2005. A few thoughts and observations from the weekend.

- Suffolk and St. Joe's confirmed what I believed all year long - those two clubs were far and away the cream of the conference, and they really outclassed the rest of the competition all year long.

- The old adage rang true in this tournament; pitching and defense wins championships, although the latter wasn't too evident all weekend long. Still, Suffolk had the upper hand by winning their 1st two contests, whereas St. Joe's simply ran out of pitching by the second game yesterday.

- As mentioned above, the defense exhibited in this tournament was no less than atrocious. The left side of the St. Joe's infield was porous all weekend, and Suffolk's efforts in the field weren't much better. I counted no less than 20 errors in the 4 games I took in. Suffolk actually should have won game one yesterday, but were hindered by 5 defensive miscues.

- Saturday's 22-21 game between Suffolk and St. Joe's was unlike anything I'd ever seen on a baseball field. The Rams offense exploded for 11 runs in the 1st two innings off of GNAC Player and Pitcher of the Year Pat Moran. Moran had shut down Suffolk just one week earlier in a complete game effort, but he didn't stand a chance on Saturday, allowing 9 hits and 11 earned runs in just 1.2 innings. The big right hander saw his ERA jump from 2.15 to 4.13 after the weekend. Suffolk's efforts on the mound weren't much better, as they were handed lead after lead and almost relinquished each and every one of them. Just a bizarre baseball game.

- I really enjoy taking in baseball games at Larry Mahaney Diamond, and I applaud the way the Monks take care of that field, but if I were a pitcher, I would dread pitching there. It's like Coors Field, the way the ball flies there. 320 to left field, with a 10 foot fence? Yikes.