PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A magical season for the Rowan University baseball team is set to continue in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
On Friday, the Profs will take on Wheaton College in their first game of the NCAA Division III College World Series.
Rowan, out of Glassboro, owns a 29-4 record. The Profs got here by going a perfect 4-0 en route to winning the Marietta Regional of the NCAA Tournament, grabbing the title with a 9-8, 10-inning victory over Marietta this past Sunday.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for my team,” Rowan head coach Mike Dickson said.
"After going through last season and losing their season (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and not even sure if we were going to play until the third week of February this year, they really thrived during the adversity, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
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This will be Rowan’s 7th appearance in the World Series and first since 2005. The Profs won it all all back in 1978 and 1979.
Dickson credits his pitching staff with leading the way for the Profs’ success. Rowan has a fine team ERA of 2.75.
“As I tell our team all the time, it always starts on the mound,” he said.
“Drew Ryback, left-handed pitcher, came back for his fifth year, is (8-1) this year, fantastic job. (Sophomore) Eli Atiya just named first-team all–region pitcher, he’s 9-1. (Senior) Donald Zellman has been fantastic on the mound all year and our bullpen’s been great. (Junior) Christian Bascunan, (senior) Zach Listro our closer and (sophomore) Jason O’Neill have all been fantastic out of the bullpen.”
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At the plate, the Profs are paced by senior infielder/DH Ryan McIsaac and his .409 average, and junior outfielder Ryan Murphy’s nine home runs and 35 RBI.
The Profs will match up with 20-5 Wheaton out of Massachusetts on Friday in their first game of the double-elimination pool play tournament.
“We’ve played Wheaton a bunch of time down in Florida in previous years,” Dickson said.
“Very well coached, they are not going to beat themselves. They’re going to be able to execute the fundamentals and for us to beat them, it’s going to be a matter of us executing and taking advantage of any miscues that they have.”
Rowan and Wheaton get underway at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.
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