ROME, NY – The SUNYIT baseball team was stunned during the NEAC West Division Tournament this weekend, losing its first two games in the two-day, double-elimination playoffs and suffering an early exit as the No. 1 seed.

The defending NEAC West Champion Wildcats, who earned the top seed and a right to host the tournament after winning the NEAC West regular season championship, opened play against the fourth seeded Penn State Berks Nittany Lions.  Berks opened with a run in each of the first two innings to take an early advantage, but SUNYIT responded in the fourth when senior Dan Orza (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) hit a three-run double to left center to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. 

Each team would score two runs in the fifth to up the score to 5-4, but Berks kept the offense going with two more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings that gave the Lions an 8-5 lead.  An RBI single by junior Jhomel Solano (Bronx, NY/Cristo Rey) in the bottom of the eighth cut the gap to 8-6 and SUNYIT then kept Berks scoreless in the top of the ninth, but a 1-2-3 inning by Berks closer Rich Schlamowitz shut the door on the Wildcats and gave the Lions the upset win.

That sent the Wildcats to the losers' bracket where they had to take on No. 2 seed Penn State Abington, who were also upset in the opening round with a 3-1 loss to No. 3 seed Gallaudet University.  The Wildcats would again fall behind early after Abington scored on a RBI single by Kevin Szafranski in the second and then put four runs on the board on four hits in the third to take a commanding 5-0 lead.  SUNYIT finally put a run on the board in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Orza, but Abington quickly responded with a run in the seventh to keep them up by five runs.

SUNYIT would rally with three runs in the eighth on a two-run double by sophomore Anthony Barnao (Ticonderoga, NY/Ticonderoga) and an RBI ground out by junior pinch hitter Sam Quinn-Loeb (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) to cut the lead to 6-4.  Neither team would score in the ninth, however, giving Abington the victory and ending the Wildcats' season. 

Berks went on to win the NEAC West Championship after sweeping through the tournament, defeating Gallaudet 8-2 in round two Saturday and taking down Abington 10-1 in the championship game on Sunday.  Sophomore shortstop Nick Vitelli was named the tournament's most valuable player after registering totals of seven hits, three doubles, three RBI and three runs scored in three contests for Berks.

All of the tournament games were played this past Saturday and Sunday at the Rome Baseball Association, Inc. in Rome, NY, which is home to Larry DeLutis Field and Volunteer Field.

The Wildcats finished the year a program-best 22-14.