Harwich, MA --- St. Joseph's (Maine) senior Brandon Chase (Naples, ME) went 2-for-4 with a three-run inside-the-park homer to help lead the sixth-seeded Monks to a 7-5 triumph over #7 Salem State in the second elimination game of the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament this afternoon.

The Monks (31-13) play the loser of this afternoon's match-up that features top-seeded Southern Maine and #4 Western New England, tomorrow at 9:30 AM. The Vikings, who are making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2006, sees their season come to a close at 25-15.

With the score 4-3 in favor of St. Joseph's in the bottom of the eighth, Chase lined a two-out bleeder to the gap in right center field to score junior Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, NY) and senior Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, MA) for the four-run advantage.

In the top of the ninth, Salem State senior Steve Buitkus (Reading, MA) and junior Kyle McElroy (Newburyport, MA) led off the frame with consecutive infield singles to put pressure on the Monks.

After junior Brett Cahill (Gloucester, MA) reached on a misplayed liner by the shortstop that scored Buitikus, freshman Richard Fecteau (Newury, MA) drove in McElroy to make the score 7-5.

But St Joseph's sophomore Alex Valenti (Lawrence, MA) ended the game to earn his first save of the campaign on a ground-out to help the Monks stay alive in the regional.

Sophomore Joe Coyne (Duxbury, MA) and Pratt both helped give St. Joseph's the early 2-0 margin on back-to-back sacrifice flies in the bottom of the first.

After the Monks touched up Buckland for the early edge, he set down 10 of his next 11 and helped give his team a chance to come from behind.

The effort allowed the Vikings to score twice on a Burgess RBI double in the fourth and a Cahill run producing safety with two outs in the fifth for the 3-2 contest.

However, St Joseph's added some insurance on consecutive plated runs by freshman Zack Graham (Marlboro, MA) and Lorenc when Buckland ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth.

Salem State came right back in the top of the seventh and made the score 4-3 on a RBI single by senior Kevin Salines (Melrose, MA) which set the stage for Chase's key score in the bottom of the eighth.

Senior Chad Rafferty (Keene, NH) earned the triumph after seven solid innings for the Monks. Rafferty (7-2) scattered seven hits and yielded three runs (two earned) to go with eight strikeouts and a trio of walks.

Buckland (3-2) was tagged with the setback for the Vikings as he permitted five runs (three earned) on seven hits in seven 1/3 frames of work.

Graham, Lorec and Chase all finished with two hits each while Graham and Lorenc combined for four runs in the contest. Buitkus, Salines and Burgess also chipped in with two base-knocks apiece for Salem State in the losing effort.

The Vikings finished with the 11-7 edge in the hitting column, but left 10 men on base (eight in scoring position). Chase's homer was the seventh in six tournament games thus far as hitters have been stroking the ball for a collective .294 batting average (118-for-401).