During the 2021 season, Rowan Baseball captured the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship, an NCAA Division Regional Championship and won nearly 83% of their games. Now, the team is back on the field ready to get to work for the 2022 season and, in the eyes of Head Coach Mike Dickson, they are still hungry on their quest for even more accomplishments.
“Every year, the goal is to win the National Championship,” Coach Dickson said. “We want to be the last team standing, but only one team can do that every year. We had a good year last year, we did a lot of good things, but ultimately we didn’t win those final games.”
Despite all their accomplishments, they were not able to grab the Division III National Championship. In order to be that last team standing, Coach Dickson knows the work that has to be put in.
“We have to play better throughout the year, build that team cohesiveness,” Coach Dickson said. “We have to understand that it’s not one or two players, that it takes everyone to perform at their best.”
One player that was a massive reason for the Profs’ success last season was pitcher Eli Atiya.
Atiya, a current junior, took a major leap in his second season after only appearing in one game as a freshman. But even with Atiya’s success as a sophomore, he knows that there is still work to be done.
“Just have to continue to work harder and trust the coaches and guys behind me,” Atiya said. “Lift, condition, just do what needs to be done to get better every single day.”
With Atiya being named a team captain for the upcoming season, he will have his eye on the team at all times. One of the things that he’s taken away from that so far is that every single one of his teammates are locked in and ready to go.
“Every day we are getting better, this team has a lot of potential to be better than last year,” Atiya said. “We have a lot of expectations. The freshmen have been good, and everyone else has gotten better from last year. We are definitely in a good position to be better than last year.”
As for Atiya’s personal goals for the season, one clear one sticks out to him.
“Be better than last year, and to win the World Series,” Atiya said.
It is clear that the expectations for Rowan Baseball are sky high for the upcoming season. The Profs have already started building off their exceptions as they won their season-opening against Swarthmore College 10-4. Their 2022 campaign continues this weekend as they play two games on March 5 and one of March 6 against Virginia Wesleyan in Virginia Beach.
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