2014 GNAC Baseball Pre-season Coaches’ Poll Announced

BOSTON, Mass. – Coming off their fourth consecutive GNAC Championship in 2013, the Saint Joseph's College (ME) Monks have been selected as the Pre-Season favorite in the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Baseball Pre-Season Coaches' Poll. The Monks, who received two votes in the D3baseball.com Pre-Season Poll, earned a total of 60 points and six first place votes.

The Monks, who landed nine players on the 2013 GNAC All-Conference teams will look to continue their dominance at the top of the GNAC. They return five All-GNAC selections, losing the other four to graduation, most notably 2013 GNAC Pitcher of the Year Tyler Laverriere and first baseman Mike Pratt who were both honored as ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III New England All-Region Third Team selections. Sophomore catcher Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) and junior outfielder Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) return as First Team selections while senior pitcher Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody, Mass.), a All-GNAC Second Team selection, will anchor the staff.

The Suffolk University Rams finished second in the poll with 57 points and the other two first place votes. The Rams will look for another big offensive year out of senior infielder Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) who has been named a Pre-Season All-American by D3Baseball.com. Last season Cintolo earned his third consecutive New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-Region selection for New England. During the 2013 campaign he hit at a .398 average (68-for-171) with a team-high 44 runs scored while driving in 37 runs on 20 extra base hits. Also returning will be senior pitchers Jhonneris Mendez (Boston, Mass.) and Jonathan Richard (No. Reading, Mass.). Richard posted a 6-1 record last year while Mendez returns after missing most of his junior season due to an injury after having won six games in 2012 on the hill.

Johnson & Wales University ranks third in the poll with 50 points after an impressive 13-3 GNAC record last season which earned them the No. 1 seed heading into post-season play. The Wildcats return two All-Conference pitchers in senior John Amodeo (Mahopac, N.Y.) and junior Shawn Haugh (Tampa, Fla.) and will look to the leadership of senior Alex Pezzuto (Hastings, N.Y.) after he wrapped the 2013 campaign with a .411 batting average.

Lasell College rounds out the top half of the poll with 34 points in fourth place. The Lasers were able to capture a GNAC tournament win last year, defeating Albertus Magnus in the 4/5 opening round match up. Lasell will rely on another strong season from All-Conference selection Billy Uberti (Newton, Mass.) who slugged .413 while batting .306 as the squad's main first baseman.

Albertus Magnus College edged out Anna Maria College for the fifth spot with 27 points as the AMCats were just behind in sixth with 26 points. Rivier University placed seventh in the poll with 18 points while Norwich University capped the poll in eighth with 16 total points.

2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Baseball Pre-Season Coaches' Poll