Tyler Cannon came into Rowan baseball’s game against Southern Maine on March 19 tied with the program hits record of 230. In his second at-bat of the fifth inning, he passed Alex Kokos to become Rowan’s all-time-hits leader with 231, a figure that will only continue to increase as his fourth season with the team continues.

“I came back for this fourth season here with hopes and aspirations of making a deep run into the World Series. I told myself that anything else that comes along with that, any accomplishments or accolades, it’s just a bonus,” Cannon said. “So it’s definitely a great feeling.”

Cannon achieved his first program record in doubles during a home game against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponent NJCU last year. He hit two that game to reach 57 for his career, surpassing Hall of Fame assistant coach Mike Rucci’s record of 56.

Cannon broke the hits record in the midst of the Profs’ Florida trip and didn’t play the prior four games due to injury. So for him, the location didn’t matter, he was just happy to reach that milestone.

“It’s always in the back of your mind when you’re hitting and kind of weighs on your shoulders that you know you’re one hit away from tying it or breaking it,” Cannon said. “I was dealing with injury at the time too, so there was a lot going on in my mind and it was one of the things I kind of wanted to just check off the box early so I could just go out there and play baseball.”

His second program record comes in his sixth year playing collegiate baseball; his fourth in the brown and gold. He started his career playing two shortened seasons of baseball at Iona from 2020-21 before transferring to Rowan for his junior year in 2022. 

The Profs fell short of concluding his senior season in 2024, stained by a NJAC championship and NCAA regionals loss. All of these factors, Cannon says, went into his decision to retake the field for Rowan.

“I love this sport and I love my time here at Rowan. Unfortunately, I lost my first two seasons at Iona and I feel that everyone deserves the opportunity to have four full seasons,” Cannon said. “Fortunately enough, I was able to take one more year and with the way things ended last year, it kind of left a salty taste in my mouth. I really wanted to come back and have a stronger and farther finish this year than we did last year.”

Now finding his name etched into the Rowan baseball record books twice, Cannon reflects on the course his career has taken and the growth he’s experienced as a player.

“We went through some tough seasons over at Iona, we didn’t play much, and it kind of detached me a little bit from the game,” Cannon said. “I’m just super grateful that I ended up where I did and happy that I ended up here.”

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