In what was their longest game of the season, No. 20 Rowan baseball looked to complete a season sweep of New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponent Rutgers-Camden after last Thursday’s 11-2 win over the Scarlet Raptors. Despite playing three hours and 45 minutes, the Profs couldn’t find enough time to scrape together a win, losing their Monday, April 14, game 20-12 and giving up their highest run totals to an opponent so far this season.

It was also one of their sloppiest defensive games in over eight years. Rowan made a season-high seven errors, tied with their most since 2017. The Profs committed seven errors in that game versus Ripon College, but went on to win 7-5. 

“We didn’t show up today, but we win and lose with our seniors,” head coach Mike Dickson said. “And the seniors have to be better. A lot of those errors were out of them.”

Rutgers-Camden fared significantly better at the plate, with multiple players having a multi-hit and RBI game en route to 20 runs, their most since March 12. Second baseman Frankie Romond went 5-6 with three runs and an RBI, his second five-hit game of the season. Designated hitter Jack Murphy, who went on to break the Scarlet Raptor’s RBI program record in the game, went 3-6 with three runs and three RBIs. 

As for the Profs, their struggles with situational hitting continued. Despite finishing with one less hit than the Scarlet Raptors (18 versus 17), Rowan scored eight less runs (20-12).

The inability for Rowan to capitalize with runners in scoring position made itself apparent in the loss to Montclair State last week, and Dickson acknowledges the hitting struggles his offense continues to face.

“We just have to have better pitch selection, that’s what it’s really going to come down to,” Dickson said. “I think we had some opportunities there to be able to get us back in the game, and credit to them [Rutgers-Camden]. They took advantage of some big hits with runners in scoring position and were putting up multiple runs.”

The tough loss also comes at their busiest and arguably most important stretch of the season. Rowan currently sits at 4-4 in the NJAC, with five of those upcoming games against conference opponents. Including the Monday afternoon loss to Rutgers-Camden, the Profs are set to play six games over six days, which will test the durability of their young bullpen. 

But it didn’t always appear that things would get this out of hand. After the Scarlet Raptors jumped out to a quick 1-0 to start the game, Jason Morgan would counter with a three-run shot in the bottom of the first inning to give the Profs a 3-2 advantage.

That was as close as Rowan would get to Rutgers-Camden for the rest of the afternoon.

With the busy stretch that preceded them, Dickson looked to start off the week on a high note and preserve the bullpen arms with another quality start from ace Mike Shannon, who posted a 2.47 ERA through his previous six starts. Shannon was also coming off his best outing of the year against Montclair State, where he finished with a 1.12 ERA and allowed only one earned run through eight innings.

Unfortunately, Shannon couldn’t go the distance on the mound this time around. He was pulled after the second inning after giving up eight earned runs, bringing his ERA to 4.07 on the year and putting his team in a 10-3 deficit.

“Our pitching staff didn’t have their best stuff today, and that kind of put us in a hole right from the beginning,” Tyler Cannon said. “It felt like we were calling back for a majority of the game.”

Cannon hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning to pull the Profs within 11-6. He would also draw a bases-loaded walk in the fifth and one to make things 13-7. Phil Sedalis then stepped to the plate and grounded into a double-play to shortstop Austin Dubler to end the inning, as the team’s ongoing issue of reading the ball would continue to plague them.

Dickson puts it plain and simple when describing his team’s at-bats.

“We just couldn’t get a big hit when we needed it,” Dickson said.

But the team’s frustration will be short-lived, as they are set to play an out-of-conference game versus Arcadia on Tuesday. With just 24 hours until they take the field again, Cannon says they will need to clean up their act to have a strong showing against the Knights.

“You just gotta hold yourself accountable and honestly, just be better. Just show up tomorrow and play your butt off, it’s really the only way you can go about it,” Cannon said. “The beauty of baseball is you get to wake up and play again tomorrow. But we need to do a complete 180 in order to get better.”

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