Bangor, ME – Frank Nieto and Nathan Welch hit homers in Sunday's opening game of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament and Nieto recorded a pair of hits in the nightcap, but the SUNY Canton baseball team's season came to an end on the opening day of the NAC Tournament.

The Roos dropped the opening game of the double elimination tournament to SUNY Cobleskill 19-2 before falling 15-7 to Thomas College in Sunday's final game of the day.

THE BASICS

• Result: Game 1: SUNY Cobleskill 19, SUNY Canton 2 | Game 2: Thomas 15, SUNY Canton 7
• Location: Dr. John W. Winkin Sports Complex – Bangor, ME
• Records: SUNY Canton (11-23) | SUNY Cobleskill (21-13) | Thomas (19-16)

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
GAME 1 – BOX SCORE

• The Cobleskill bats erupted for 21 hits and 19 runs in the opening game of the NAC Baseball Tournament at Husson on Sunday.
• Edilberto Rosado led the Roos going 2-for-3 and also drew a walk as he reached base three times. Nick Barone, Nathan Welch, Frank Nieto and Derek Maldonado had one hit each for Canton.
• The Fighting Tigers scored three runs in the first inning, four in the fourth, three in the fifth, six in the seventh and three in the eighth.
• Canton plated one run in the third on a Nieto solo homer to left and added another in the fifth on Welch's team-leading fifth dinger of the season to right.
• Logan Hutter, Dylan Pohl, Logan Firment and Stephen Tejada had three hits each for Cobleskill with Hutter and Tejada driving in three runs each.
• Devin Lewis improved to 4-1 on the season for the Tigers allowing two runs with 10 strike outs and a pair of walks in 6.2 innings.
• Hunter LaValley took the loss surrendering four earned runs with a strike out and two walks in 3.1 innings.

 
GAME 2 – BOX SCORE

• Thomas jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning of an elimination game for both teams in the nightcap, which started at 6:15 p.m.
• The Roos bounced back scoring one in the third inning on a Nieto RBI triple that brought home Mike Henry.
• Canton would put up a six spot in the third inning. Henry walked home Welch, Barone scored after Mackenzie Mather got hit by a pitch and Nieto walked home Ty Reed. Henry scored on a balk, Mather tagged and scored on a Rosado sacrifice fly, and Dylan Allen singled home Nieto as the Roos led 7-3 after four innings.
• The Terriers regained an 8-7 lead scoring once in the fourth and fifth and four in the sixth innings.
• Thomas blew open a 15-7 lead bringing home seven runners in the seventh inning to put the game out of reach.
• Reed led the Roos with three hits, while Nieto and Allen had two hits each as Nieto was 2-for-2 with a walk, a run and two RBI.
• Tony Meza and Nick Hutson had three hits each for the Terriers and combined to drive in five runs.
• Tyler Cantey earned the win throwing 5.2 innings of scoreless ball with six strike outs in relief.
• Kieran Gibson took the loss giving up seven earned runs with two strike outs and two walks in 5.2 innings.  
   

Following the conclusion of the NAC Baseball Tournament on Tuesday Welch and Nieto were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
This concludes the 2023 season for the Roos as they set a new program mark for conference wins (8) in the D-III era.
 


About SUNY Canton
As Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs, SUNY Canton delivers quality hands-on programs in digital design, engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. As SUNY's leader in online education, SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as 23 online degree programs. The college placed first in 14 categories in a SUNY-Wide Student Opinion Survey, most notably in career services, tutoring, library resources, and classroom facilities. The SUNY Canton Kangaroos 15 traditional athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division III level as part of the North Atlantic Conference. SUNY Canton also features varsity esports and cheerleading.