STANDISH, Maine – The 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) baseball postseason accolades have been announced and three Saint Joseph's College players have been honored.
Saint Joseph's has also been selected, by vote of the conference's head baseball coaches, as the recipient of the GNAC Institutional Sportsmanship award. Each season the GNAC honors athletes and teams for displaying the tenets of sportsmanship along with the release of the respective season's all-conference teams. Sportsmanship, along with community and integrity, is one of the major focal points of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.
Sophomore outfielder Jared Wilhelm (Tolland, Conn.) and sophomore starting pitcher Padraig Mac Seain (Brookline, N.H.) have earned Third Team All-Conference honors and freshman infielder Vinny O'Leary (North Quincy, Mass.) has been listed on the GNAC All-Rookie Team.
Wilhelm garners All-Conference acclaim for the second-consecutive season after hitting .378 (51-135) with 22 runs, nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, 25 RBI, and eight stolen bases in 38 games this spring. He led the team in hits, triples, home runs, RBI, batting average, OBP (.431), and slugging percentage (.541) during his sophomore campaign.
In a GNAC tourney setback to Colby-Sawyer College on May 4th, Wilhelm singled in the fourth inning to notch the 100th hit of his collegiate career. He is just the fifth player in program history to hit the century mark and first to do since Joe Coyne '15 did the same in 2013. Wilhelm reached the 100-hit plateau in just 73 games – only one SJC player hit the mark in fewer games: Jesse LaCasse '03 during the 2001 campaign.
Mac Seain collects the first All-Conference nod of his career after appearing in 11 games, including 10 starts, with a 4-3 record, a 4.24 ERA, and 47 strikeouts - against only 17 walks – in 51 innings during his sophomore season. The second-year southpaw was particularly effective in conference play, as he appeared in six games with a 4-0 record, a 1.91 ERA, and 30 punch outs – with just six walks – over 28.1 innings. Mac Seain posted a stellar 0.88 WHIP and allowed a paltry .192 opponents' batting average when facing GNAC opponents.
O'Leary takes home GNAC All-Rookie Team accolades after hitting .282 (35-124) with 20 runs, six doubles, a triple, a home run, 17 RBI, and four stolen bases in 36 games.
Saint Joseph's posted a 14-25 overall record, including an 8-8 mark in conference play, under the watch of 32nd-year Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 this spring. The Monks eight of their final 11 games – including a six-game winning streak – to secure a GNAC Tournament berth and, after falling to eventual conference champ Mitchell College, defeated Anna Maria College, 6-1, in an elimination game the following day. The team's 2024 season came to a close with a 12-8 loss at the hands of Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday, May 4th.
GNAC RELEASE
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