NASHUA, NH – Saint Joseph's College (25-10, 13-3 GNAC) swept Rivier University (8-29, 3-13 GNAC) in GNAC baseball action at Holman Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Monks walloped the Raiders by an 11-3 margin in the opener and cruised to a 6-0 victory in the nightcap.

Saint Joseph's registered 12 hits en route to scoring 11 runs and junior Joe Gruntkosky (Peabody, Mass.) fanned 10 batters in the opener. Senior first baseman Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.) led the Monks' offensive outburst by going 3-4 with a double, a homer and five RBI and sophomore left fielder Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) was 2-4 with two runs, a double and four RBI in the first game.

Gruntkosky allowed three runs off five hits and improved to 5-1 on the season with the winning decision. Freshman reliever Riley Cox (Westford, Mass.) worked a scoreless seventh for the visitors.

The Monks went on to secure the conference sweep with the help of excellent pitching and timely hitting in a 6-0 nightcap triumph. Junior starter Nick Whittaker (Yarmouth, Maine) improved to 5-2 on the year after striking out nine batters while allowing three hits and three walks in six innings. Sophomore Dan Meeken (Marshfield, Mass.) fanned three in a one-hit seventh to close out the Monks' eighth shutout of the 2013 campaign.

Coyne went 3-4 with a run scored and Pratt was 2-4 with a run while juniors Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) and Alex Markakis (Lynnfield, Mass.) drove in two runs apiece in the victory.

Raiders' starting pitcher Steve Carlberg (Dover, N.H.), who played for Saint Joseph's last year and transferred to Rivier following the 2012 fall semester, falls to 1-5 on the season after yielding six runs (two earned) off 10 hits with a strikeout in 4.2 innings.

With the sweep, Saint Joseph's improves to 16-1 in the history of the series with Rivier University. The Monks have now defeated the Raiders in 11-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2008 campaign.

St. Joe's is off until the GNAC Tournament begins this week. Tourney seedings will be announced on Monday evening.

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.