Canton, NY – The SUNY Canton baseball team qualified for its second straight North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament in 2023 after completing just its third full season as a member of the conference in the sport.

The Roos opened their season with three games in the Bison Baseball Classic in the nation's capital in late February before playing seven games in sunny Florida during the team's spring break trip in March. The team picked up a 9-8 win in extra innings in their first game in the Sunshine State behind a three-run homer from Nathan Welch and a walk-off single from Hunter LaValley. The win was the first for Head Coach Wilson Matos.  

Two days later the Roos earned another 4-3 extra innings victory. Welch had two hits and another homer in the win.

After returning to New York, Canton got back in the win column as they split a doubleheader at Hamilton College on March 24th. Alphonse Fuca had a four-hit day as the Roos earned a 4-3 win in the opener. The Continentals made it all the way to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship game in 2022, one of the premier conferences in Division III.

The Roos opened their NAC schedule by winning their first league series 3-2 against Cazenovia. Canton won the opening nine-inning game 11-10 on April 7th as Welch and Nick Barone combined for six hits, two homers and nine RBI. The team earned a split against the Wildcats the next day behind a six hit, six RBI day from Dylan Allen. The following Tuesday the Roos earned another split v. Cazenovia to take the season series behind Kayden Guerin's first career win and another six hit day from Allen.

Canton opened its five game NAC series against SUNY Poly with an emphatic 19-10 win on April 14th. Nick Shoemaker set the single-game RBI record driving in six runs in the victory. After the Wildcats took a doubleheader from Canton the following day, the Roos secured the season series with a pair of 9-8 and 3-2 wins on April 18th. Frank Nieto posted four hits in the sweep and Guerin and Danny Vargas earned wins on the mound.

The team's final conference series of the season saw them hand SUNY Cobleskill their only two league losses of the season. Barone hit a walk-off grand slam, his second home run of the day, as Canton split a pair of games on April 22nd with an 11-8 win in the nightcap. In what proved to be their final game of the regular season, Shoemaker recorded five hits in a doubleheader as the Roos defeated the Tigers 6-4 after a 2-1 loss in the opener on April 28th.

Canton qualified for its second straight NAC Tournament earning the four seed. The Roos would ultimately fall to Cobleskill and Thomas in the double elimination tournament.

During the season three different players earned four different weekly awards from the NAC. Welch was named the Player of the Week (3/27), LaValley was recognized as both the Pitcher and Rookie of the Week (3/27) and Edilberto Rosado was selected as the Rookie of the Week (4/3).

Shoemaker (.352), Allen (.352), Welch (.350) and Fuca (.303) all hit north of .300 on the season with Welch (27), Shoemaker (26) and Barone (25) combining to drive in 78 runs. Guerin led the pitching staff with three wins, while Gavin Neuland, LaValley and Vargas had two wins each.

Following the season Ty Reed was selected to the NAC West All-Conference Team at second base and LaValley was honored on the Sportsmanship Team. Welch was also recognized as the SUNY Canton Athletics department's Male Student-Athlete of the Year and Reed and Welch picked up CSC Academic All-District recognition.  

The Roos are expected to lose Dylan Allen, Kieran Gibson, Mackenzie Mather, Gavin Neuland, Ty Reed, Evan Ruddy, Jackson Troiano, Danny Vargas and Nathan Welch to graduation.  
 

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.