ST. JOE’S

During a recent preseason get-together, St. Joseph’s College baseball coach Will Sanborn showed his players a coach’s poll that has them picked to finish first in the North Atlantic Conference.

Then he ripped the poll into small pieces and threw it in the trash.

“It’s a nice thing, it’s nice recognition, but that’s why we’re playing the season, and it really doesn’t mean a heck of a lot,” said Sanborn, speaking on the phone from Florida, where the team is playing nine games. “I think it’s true that teams will be gunning for us, but that isn’t anything new.”

No, it’s not.

The Monks have recorded nine 20-plus win seasons during Sanborn’s 13-year tenure, with the most recent coming last year. In 2005, the Monks won the NAC championship on their first try, advanced to ECAC tourney for the first time and finished with a record of 32-10.

They return 19 players from last year’s team, including sophomore pitcher Charlie Furbush, who received scholarship offers from more than 20 Division I programs after a successful 2005 season in the Cape Cod League.

“He’s a franchise guy. There’s no doubt about it,” said Sanborn. “I think he was, obviously, pretty tempted (to leave), but I think for a lot of good reasons, I think, good educational reasons, he came back to St. Joe’s.

Furbush, a 6-foot-5 South Portland native, was 7-1 last season with a 1.75 earned run average. He walked just 11 batters while striking out 70 and holding opponents to a .209 average.

“He gives us a dominant No. 1 left-handed pitcher that a lot of people would like to have,” added Sanborn. “He can beat anybody, and he also was one of our better hitters last year and provides a lot of punch to the offense, too.”

The Monks will also get some offensive punch from another returning all-conference player, junior middle infielder Mark Clapp. He finished the 2005 season with a .320 average and 29 runs batted in.

Clapp will be joined in the infield by senior first baseman Ben Muniz, who missed most the 2005 season with a broken right ankle. Sanborn is also counting on sophomore middle infielder Luke Enman to make an impact this season. Enman hit .333 with 29 RBI as a freshman.

In the outfield, Sanborn is expecting big things from sophomore transfer Dustin Spiller, a Gorham native.

“He’s had a big trip so far. He’s hitting the ball very well,” the coach said. “He’ll play (in center field) most of the time. He’s a real good left-handed hitter who will hit in the middle of the lineup. He should hit for a pretty high average, and he’s a very good outfielder.”

Thornton Academy grad Keil Martin is also expected to start in the outfield. Martin, a junior, broke his wrist three days before the team left for Florida last season, but he led the Portland Twilight League in hits over the summer.

Windham’s Chris Doughty, another junior, will see a lot of time in right field, according to Sanborn. And freshman Wade Oliver will also battle for playing time in the outfield.

Jake Rodden and South Portland’s Andy Wood will handle most of the catching duties for the Monks. They’ll attempt to handle the knuckleball being developed by senior pitcher Billy Chapman.

Meanwhile, pitcher Jack Hughes is back for another year after graduating last season. Now in graduate school, Hughes led the team in appearances (17) last season. Westbrook’s Ben Cutter will also be counted on in the rotation.

“It’s not a thing where it’s all about pitching or it’s all about defense or all about hitting,” said Sanborn. “I think you have to have all those things in good combination. You have to have different ways to win every day. You can’t rely on one aspect of the game or one superstar player. If you have that kind of team atmosphere and positive attitude then things will usually take care of themselves.”

USM

With Tip Fairchild at the top of the rotation this season, University of Southern Maine baseball coach Ed Flaherty figures he would’ve had a national-championship contending team.

Without Fairchild, who left school after being drafted by the Houston Astros in the 12th round last June, Flaherty will need to do some improvising – at least at the start of the season. The Huskies return 16 players from last year’s team – which went 25-14 overall and 9-5 in the Little East – but they also have 14 newcomers.

“We haven’t got a set lineup yet and we probably won’t. It’s probably going to take us 10, 11 games into the season to get things figured out,” said Flaherty, whose team will open the season Saturday at Johnson and Wales before heading to Arizona for 10 games in eight days. “The fall (season) was good and productive, but some of the younger kids tend to improve over the course of the year.

“So we’ve only got two or three positions that I think are established.”

One of those positions is shortstop, where junior captain Nick Vardaro will play. The other is right field, where junior Ryan Bourque will roam. Sophomore Eddie Skeffington, a 2005 All Little East team selection as a freshman, will start somewhere, but Flaherty doesn’t know where that will be just yet.

“He’s playing a lot of first base right now and also in the outfield,” said Flaherty of Skeffington, who led USM in hitting last season with a .406 average.

After that, though, there’s still quite a bit to be determined.

Juniors Peter Bergeron and Josh Armandi are the favorites to replace Fairchild at the top of the Huskies’ rotation. There are some big shoes to fill, but Flaherty knows at least one pitcher will step up.

“I’ve seen some kids like Armandi and (Pat) Foley, and Bergeron a little bit, kind of want to take that lead role a little bit, and I think they’re capable,” he said. “They’re good and they want to be the top dogs. So I think there will be somebody who rises up and takes over that No. 1 role.”

Flaherty is also expecting freshman Chris Burleson to slot into the No. 3 or 4-spot in the rotation.

Burleson will also compete with Skeffington, Brent Lemieux and former Deering High teammate Jeff Skillin for playing time in the outfield.

Another former Deering player, freshman Mike D’Andrea, is expected to log innings in the infield. He’ll compete with juniors Joe Ganley and Pat Kinslow, a Westbrook native. Junior Max Arsenault could also split time between catcher and third base, depending on what happens with the other two catchers, junior transfer Jordan Yanni and junior Joe McGhee.

“It’s a little bit of a puzzle right now, but we’ll get it figured out,” said Flaherty, who is entering his 30th year as USM’s coach.

And if the Huskies do get it all figured out?

“I couldn’t really tell you,” he said. “It’s a young team in some ways. It depends on who’s playing. When you lose Tip that takes a little bit away from what you might’ve thought would’ve been a national-contending team.

“I do think if our pitchers perform at the top of where I’m expecting them to then we could be a force in our league and battle for regional honors. But if the pitching doesn’t get there then that’s going to be a battle for us.”