Coming off a 10-2 victory against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Stockton two days prior, No. 16 Rowan baseball looked to get their conference record (1-2) back on track during their doubleheader versus Montclair State on April 5.

Unfortunately for the Profs, they would split the mini-series with the Red Hawks, winning Game 1 by a final score of 21-3 and dropping Game 2 13-6, keeping their NJAC record still under .500 on the year (2-3).

“We felt good going into the second game,” head coach Mike Dickson said. “And credit to those guys for being able to, after a Game 1 loss, be able to go out and do their job in Game 2.”

Rowan’s offense came out firing in Game 1, exploding for a 12-run fourth inning to take a commanding 13-0 lead. 

“You get 12 runs and that’s really a slap in the face to the other team,” Phil Sedalis said. “Then you just keep tagging on more runs at the end, and you really put that team away, and they have no motivation.”

The doubleheader proved to be a successful day for the senior outfielder. He went deep in both games, extending his home run streak to three games. 

“When I’m hitting, I never really think about it,” Sedalis said. “It’s more just a bonus. I kind of have an approach at the plate, and I try to stick to it every at-bat depending on the situation. And you know, if the home run happens, it happens.”

The Profs would score eight additional runs, which put the game out of reach for the Red Hawks and gave ace Mike Shannon a sizable cushion on the mound. Shannon (5-1) in another dominant start struck out eight batters and gave up just seven hits in eight innings. He sarcastically applauded his teammates for backing him up at the plate.

“It’s always nice to get a nice lead. I’d rather not wait 30 minutes in between innings, so tell that to the offense,” Shannon said. “But it’s great having them and always trusting that they’re gonna put runs up for me. It helps out a lot.”

As for the second game, the pitching faltered. Steven Maiers (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up seven earned runs in a little over four innings of work. The bullpen arms also struggled, as they and Maiers gave up a combined 13 runs en route to the loss.

“Maiers didn’t have his best stuff today and gave up a couple early,” Dickson said. “They’ve got to get better. We didn’t locate a couple of pitches and left them out over the plate, and they put good swings on them. That’s what happens when you don’t locate where you’re supposed to. Good hitters are going to be able to get contact.”

Despite faults at the mound in Game 2, the Profs had numerous opportunities to retake the lead, but failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position. 

One such instance occurred in the sixth inning. Down 8-4, Chris Serrano struck out to end the inning with runners on second and third. Sedalis’ two-run homer in the seventh pulled the Profs within two (8-6), but a strikeout by Brayden Davis with a man on second stopped a potential turnaround.

“You have to be able to score runners in those situations and hit with runners in scoring position,” Dickson said. “When it’s 8-4, 8-6, that’s a big situation in the game. And that, in a sense, is the difference in the ball game. We will be able to flip momentum right there if we score, but we just didn’t put together great at-bats in that situation.”

Rowan is set to play three straight NJAC opponents this week, including Rutgers-Camden and Ramapo. With the Profs struggling so far in conference play, Sedalis says the team will look to bounce back after their bipolar outing versus Montclair.

“We just have to be better at fighting back when we get down,” Sedalis said. “We just didn’t have it all the second game, and we gave them a lot of freebies, and that’s what I think cost us the game.”

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