UTICA, NY – SUNYIT head baseball coach Kevin Edick was selected as the North Eastern Athletic Conference West Division Coach of the Year, junior Patrick Baker (Ronkonkoma, NY/Connetequot) was named the NEAC West Pitcher of the Year and a total of six Wildcats were selected to the All-Conference Team, which was announced by the NEAC today.
Edick won the award for the second time in the past three seasons after leading the Wildcats to a share of the NEAC West regular season championship with a 12-2 conference record and guiding them to a program-best overall record of 22-12. Edick, the team's only coach during its 19-year history, earned his 200th career victory this season and put together a dominant pitching staff that is currently fourth in the nation in both earned run average and hits allowed per nine innings.
Baker earned his honor and was also named to the All-Conference First Team after putting together a record-breaking season on the mound for SUNYIT, as he broke the program records for both career wins and strikeouts this season while currently being second all-time in both career starts and innings pitched. Baker, who was selected to the All-Conference Second Team in 2009, led the team in starts (8), wins (6), innings pitched (45.2) and strikeouts (36) and won one NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week award on the year.
Also making the All-Conference First Team was sophomore John LeClair (Mohawk, NY/Cortland State) after he led SUNYIT in at bats (108), hits (42), runs scored (32), doubles (11), total bases (53), stolen bases (20), batting average (.389), slugging percentage (.491) and on base percentage (.473) as the team's leadoff hitter. Additionally, the 20 stolen bases are the second most in program history and currently has him ranked 47th in the nation in that category. The 6-foot shortstop had a team-best 13 multi-hit games and won one NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week award this season.
Juniors Michael McCrone (Whitney Point, NY/Hudson Valley CC) and Anthony Surber (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills) were both selected to All-Conference Second Team. McCrone, a catcher, hit .308 on the year with 32 hits, a team-best 28 RBI, 14 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, a home run, four sacrifice flies and 12 walks drawn while starting in all 34 Wildcat contests. Surber, an All-Conference Third Team selection last season, made the team as an outfielder after hitting .337 on the year, going 30-for-89 at the plate with 23 runs scored, 17 RBI, three doubles, three triples, 15 walks and 16 stolen bases in 28 starts. He also had a tremendous season on the mound, going 3-1 in six starts with a 2.43 ERA while striking out 10 batters and holding opponents to a .205 batting average in 29 and two thirds innings of work.
Rounding out the Wildcat selections were sophomores Michael Rose (Chatham, NY/Hudson Valley CC) and Chandler Evans (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford), who both made the All-Conference Third Team. Rose had an incredible year, as his 0.25 ERA is currently the best in the nation while his three complete games and his two shutouts were both team bests. The 5-foot-8 pitcher finished 2-2 in five starts with 24 strikeouts and just one earned run given up in 35 and one third innings. Evans made the team as a first baseman after posting a .989 fielding percentage, compiling a team-best 175 putouts and one assist while committing just two errors on the year. He was also strong offensively, hitting .284 and banging out 27 hits with 12 RBI, 11 walks, nine runs scored and two sacrifice flies.
SUNYIT is set to host the 2011 North Eastern Athletic Conference West Division Baseball Tournament, which will be held on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1. All games will be played in Rome, NY at the Rome Baseball Association, Inc., which is home to Larry DeLutis Field and Volunteer Field. Directions can be found here.
The double-elimination tournament will begin with a pair of games at 8:30 am on Saturday, as No. 1 seed SUNYIT will take on No. 4 seed Penn State Berks at DeLutis Field (Game One), while No. 2 seed Penn State Abington will square off against No. 3 seed Gallaudet University at Volunteer Field (Game Two). The losers of each contest will then play against each other at 11:30 am (Game Three), while the winners will square off at 2:30 pm (Game Four). Game Five will then see the winner of Game Three take on the loser of Game Four at 5:30 pm. Games Three, Four and Five will all be played on DeLutis Field.
Sunday's action will all be played at DeLutis Field, with the winner of Game Four taking on the Winner of Game 5 at 10:00 am (Game Six). Should another game be needed to determine the champion, the seventh and final game will be held at 1:00 pm.
The winner of the NEAC West Tournament will move on to square off against the NEAC East Division Champion for a best-of-three series on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8 at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont. The NEAC East Division consists of associate members from the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), which includes Castleton, Husson, Lyndon State, Maine-Farmington and Thomas. The winner of the three-game series will earn the NEAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA DIII Regional Tournament.
An outline of the entire tournament schedule is as follows:
Saturday, April 30
Location: Field 1*
Game 1: 8:30 am – No. 1 SUNYIT vs. No. 4 Penn State Berks
Game 3: 11:30 am – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Game 4: 2:30 pm – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Game 5: 5:30 pm – Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3
Location: Field 2*
Game 2: 8:30 am – No. 2 Penn State Abington vs. No. 3 Gallaudet University
Sunday, May 1
Location: Field 1*
Game 6: 10:00 am – Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7: 1:00 pm – Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6 (if necessary)
*Field 1 = Larry DeLutis Field
*Field 2 = Volunteer Field