In front of the home crowd in Glassboro on Tuesday, April 23, No. 19 nationally-ranked Rowan baseball knocked off the Immaculata Mighty Macs in a non-conference matchup by a final score of 9-4. With the win, Rowan moves to 21-10 on the season.
The Profs were led by senior Tyler Cannon, who homered twice while also collecting the 200th hit in his Rowan career.
Cannon was the catalyst for Rowan’s success all game long. The second baseman led off the bottom of the first with a walk before scoring on a wild pitch. Rowan then tacked on another run in the inning thanks to a sacrifice fly hit by Pat Defeciani.
The Profs continued to put the pressure on Immaculata starter Matthew Long, as Chris Serrano doubled in the bottom of the second to bring home two more runners, making it 4-0. In the fourth, Cannon’s two-run shot to right field marked his 200th hit as a Prof and increased the lead to six.
“Coach [Dickson] harped about big two-out hits and I was just trying to put the ball in play in that situation,” Cannon said. “Sometimes you put a good swing on it and it ends up going over the fence.”
On the mound, Jake Reese got the start and put together four strong innings. Reese ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing an RBI double that brought the score to 6-2 before Reese was lifted from the game. On the day, the senior pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out five batters.
“He had a couple [of] pitches going, his breaking ball especially looked really good early on,” Dickson said about Reese. “They [Immaculata] got on him in the fifth, but he battled to get us out of there. Those four innings are the best that we’ve had out of him this season.”
Nick Cugino came on in relief, and after hitting a batter and allowing a runner to score off a wild pitch while the bases were loaded, got the final two outs of the inning to keep the score at 6-4. That was as close as Immaculata would get, as Cannon stepped up in the bottom of the sixth and deposited another two-run homer to center field, extending the Profs’ lead to 8-4. Rowan added on another insurance run in the seventh to make it 9-4, and Brayden Davis pitched the final three innings to earn his first career save.
Cannon’s two home runs marked the second multi-home run game of his career, while also lifting his average to .404, good for third best in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). With 201 career hits, he has also moved into No. 10 all-time on Rowan’s hits leaderboard.
“He has been outstanding. He’s a leader on and off the field, a great student and great teammate,” Dickson said about the co-captain. “He’s everything you ask for in a student-athlete.”
The accomplishment wasn’t lost on Cannon, either.
“It means a lot. I’ve had a great time here in my three years at Rowan and an accolade like that is definitely nice,” Cannon said. “Honestly though, I was more glad that we got the win today.”
Up next, Rowan will return to the conference slate when they host a struggling Rutgers-Newark on Thursday, April 25.
“We just gotta keep working hard and keep going,” Cannon said about the approach moving forward. “Just trust in each other and keep getting after it.”
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