Phil Sedalis at the plate. The senior set the Rowan record for triples. - Photo via Rowan Athletics
A year removed from a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship loss and getting knocked out of the NCAA regionals, No. 21 Rowan baseball (4-1) is looking to rebound this season.
“We have to play consistently throughout the year to get there, and once you get there, it’s about a little bit of luck,” head coach Mike Dickson said. “It’s about peaking at the right time and peaking at the end of the season.”
And with nine starters returning this year, the Profs have the pieces to go on another championship run in 2025.
Returning players include three of their top four hitters last season in second baseman and sixth-year veteran Tyler Cannon (.387), center fielder Phil Sedalis (.340), and left fielder Jason Morgan (.384). All three were 2024 All-Region First Team selections, with Cannon being named to the ACBA/Rawlings All-American Fourth Team.
“They’ve been through those tough, challenging games at the end of the year,” Dickson said about his returning starters. “That experience of playing in conference championships and regionals, you can’t teach that.”
Sedalis also recently etched his name into the Rowan baseball record books, as the senior became the program’s all-time triples leader (15) on March 2 in a team road win against Hampden-Sweeney.
“It feels great and I’ll be honest, I had no idea I even accomplished that until I saw the Instagram post and then my coach texted me,” Sedalis said. “But it’s only just the start of the season, so I’m hoping more will come but I’m also not going to be worried only about getting triples.”
Reigning 2024 NJAC Pitcher of the Year Mike Shannon has also returned for his fifth season. Shannon has put up a 2.53 ERA in his first two starts for the Profs thus far, giving up just three earned runs to go along with 14 strikeouts.
He cites a disappointing end to last year as one of the key factors in his decision to retake the mound for the Profs.
“I think obviously last year, if we had won the whole thing [NJAC championship], or we won the College World Series, it would have been a different thought,” Shannon said. “But, we know that we have a lot of potential, and I love playing baseball too, so that’s why I just want to keep coming out here. If I have the ability, then I’m going to.”
As for improvement of their young bullpen from last year, Coach Dickson is feeling optimistic about their growth.
“We’re much deeper this year than we have been, probably since ‘21,” Dickson said. “So, we needed to bolster the bullpen and bolster the starting rotation, which I think we’ve done to put us over the edge where we need to be.”
The Profs so far have won four of their first five games, all of which have been on the road. Their home opener against John Jay was canceled due to weather, and with the team’s Florida tenure just beginning, they will not play in Glassboro until March 25 versus Swarthmore.
“We play so many games down there and we’re on the road with each other the entire time, so we get to find, really, the identity of the team,” Dickson said. “And we determine kind of what we’re going to have moving forward going into conference play.”
On paper, the Profs are seemingly poised to have another deep playoff push, Dickson doesn’t want his team to get too ahead of themselves. If they stay disciplined, he says they’ll be able to finish the championship run that fell short in 2024.
“I think last year we peaked in Florida,” Dickson said. “It’s about peaking at the end, not in the middle.”
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