June 8, 2012

STANDISH, ME - The honors keep pouring in for Saint Joseph's pitcher Chad Rafferty (Keene, N.H.) as the junior righthander has added 2012 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division III New England Pitcher of the Year honors to his growing list of accolades.

Rafferty enjoyed one of the finest seasons ever recorded by a St. Joe's pitcher this spring when he helped lead the Monks to a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship, and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth, by going 10-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 68.1 innings. Opponents hit just .213 (53-249) off him and he allowed only 20 walks during his 11 appearances, 10 of which were starts.

He placed fourth in the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Year voting with 27 points, behind Steve Maher of St. Thomas (39 pts.), Kean University's Ryan Zamorsky (46), Ben Klimesh of Trinity University (56), and Marietta College's Austin Blaski, who garnered the prestigious national honor after receiving six first-place votes and 62 total points.

Rafferty's 2012 awards inventory also includes GNAC Pitcher of the Year, First Team All-GNAC, First Team All-New England (NEIBA), First Team All-Region (D3Baseball.com), D3Baseball.com New England Region Pitcher of the Year, D3Baseball.com Third Team All-America, and ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-America accolades.

He joins former SJC standout Charlie Furbush, now a reliever for the Seattle Mariners, as one of only two Saint Joseph's hurlers to have claimed the NCBWA New England Pitcher of the Year
honor. Furbush earned the award in 2006 when he went 10-1 with a 2.89 ERA, a program-record
115 strikeouts, and an NCAA DIII Baseball best 13.86 K's per nine innings.

Rafferty owns an astounding 21-1 career record and is currently tied for second with Brent Dan '01 on the SJC pitching victories list. Just the third pitcher in St. Joe's baseball history to reach the 20-win plateau, Rafferty needs only three wins to surpass Richard Flaherty '86 as the Monks' career victories leader.

With one year of eligibility remaining, Rafferty ranks fourth in SJC baseball history in career ERA (2.83), fifth in WHIP (1.21) and H/9 (7.93), sixth in strikeouts (182), seventh in K/9 (9.38), and ninth in innings pitched (174.2).

He has proven to be especially strong for the Monks late in the season. As a sophomore, he allowed just two runs over his last 29.2 innings, a span which included a program-record 21.1 consecutive scoreless frames, and closed out his junior season having not yielded an earned run over his last 18 innings.

The third-year standout has not suffered a loss since his first start of the 2011 campaign, a 4-2 loss at the hands of Curry College in Babson Park, Florida on March 13th.

 

NCBWA National Awards Release

2012 NCBWA Regional Honors

Saint Joseph's College, founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy, celebrates its Centennial year in 2012 with a theme of "Realize the Promise" – honoring our commitment to educating well-rounded graduates who combine career focus with classic liberal arts studies. A Private, Catholic, primarily residential, coeducational liberal arts institution, Saint Joseph's welcomes students of all ages and all faiths. The campus, located 18 miles northwest of Portland and just two hours from Boston, encompasses 350 acres along the shore of beautiful Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine. Enrollment ranges between 1,000 and 1,100 students annually. Saint Joseph's offers challenging academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences, education, nursing and business fields in a value-centered environment.