The Keuka College baseball team fell to host Gallaudet University 5-1 Saturday afternoon on day two of the annual North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) postseason tournament at Hoy Field in Washington, D.C.

With the loss, the Storm (22-14) are eliminated from the NEAC tournament, but the Green and Gold still completed their most successful season in school history and won the most games in a season in program history.

Senior Justyn Schuck (Hammondsport, NY/Hammondsport) went 3-for-4 and junior Keith Ryan (Fort Myers, Fla./Ave Marie University) pitched well and worked out of several jams, but the Storm were held to seven base hits and fell to Gallaudet (26-16).

Senior Hector Mitaynes (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) had a base hit, as did juniors Jon Borchert (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Jake Burachalk (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton)  and sophomore Billy McDermott (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights).

Ryan lasted seven innings against the Bison, allowing five runs on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

"They played like I expected them to play, which is how they've played all year long: they never gave up and I expected nothing less from these guys," said Rick Ferchen, the Storm's first-year head coach.

"I am very proud and honored to be a part of this program with these guys. We put ourselves in a position to be able to win the game, it just didn't happen. We had opportunities, we just couldn't get the big hit. Gallaudet had some big hits and you have to give credit to their pitcher. We battled right with them and this is something to build off of for the future."

Mitchell Bensman hit a two-run single up the middle to give the Bison a 2-0 lead heading into the third inning.

Senior Dom D'Augustino (Williamson, NY/Williamson) walked and Schuck singled in the third, but Gallaudet turned a double play to keep the Storm scoreless.

The Bison tacked on two more runs on a fielder's choice and an RBI single, and threatened to blow the game open, but Ryan got an inning-ending double play as the Storm trailed 4-0 heading to the fourth.

In the fourth, it was Keuka College's turn to threaten. Borchert hit a one-out single up the middle, senior Gavin Corbin (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) reached on an error and Mitaynes loaded the bases with a hard-hit single up the middle.

The Storm scored their first run of the tournament when junior Dan Smith (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Forks) was hit by a pitch to cut the score to 4-1. But Gallaudet starter Brandon Holsworth got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

Ryan retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning, and Schuck hit a single to lead off the top of the fifth. McDermott moved Schuck to second on a well-placed bunt down the third-base line, but the Storm stranded a pair of runners and trailed by three heading to the bottom of the fifth.

The Bison put runners on first and second in the fifth, but Ryan got a strikeout to end the jam.

In the sixth, Smith blasted a ball to the gap in left-center field, but William Bissell made a leaping catch at the wall to Smith of extra bases as the Storm were once again held scoreless.

Holsworth showed why he was the NEAC Pitcher of the Year, holding the Storm to one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts and two walks in the complete-game win.

While the Storm dropped both of their NEAC tournament games, Ferchen said there were plenty of positives from this season, but he hopes his student-athletes learned some lessons from their first NEAC tournament appearance since 2009.

"We can't afford to take things for granted, to expect that things are just automatically going to happen for us," said Ferchen, the NEAC's Coach of the Year.

"We were scoring runs so easily during the year and even late in games, but when you get into a tournament situation, you're facing everyone's number one and two pitchers and you're going to get everyone's 'A' game. If anything, for most of our guys this was their first time being in a playoff situation. They learned what playoff baseball is all about and what they have to do to perform at this level."