DANVILLE, VA – The Rowan University baseball team received a strong outing from starting pitcher Andrew Cohen and the offense came through with timely hits in a 10-2 victory over Emory University at the NCAA South Regional on Thursday.
The third-seeded Profs (29-16) advance to take on the second seed LaGrange College on Friday, May 19 at 6 p.m. The Panthers are ranked number one in both the D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association polls. The fourth-seeded Eagles (27-13) will have their season on the line when they face the sixth seed Roanoke College on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
The regional is double elimination. In the other games on Thursday, Roanoke upset the top seed Salisbury University, 15-5 and LaGrange topped fifth-seeded Otterbein University, 7-1. Salisbury and Otterbein square off in an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m.
Cohen (sr. Monroe Twp., NJ/Monroe Twp.) tossed eight innings for the win. The righty (5-4) surrendered two runs and seven hits. Cohen fanned 14 batters, one shy of the school record. Left-hander Jackson Weeg (sr. Woodstock, GA/River Ridge) took the loss (4-6).
Right fielder Jason Clapper (sr. Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape), third baseman Dillon Mendel (so. Sparta, NJ/Sparta), first baseman Monny Strickland (jr. Egg Harbor Twp., NJ/Egg Harbor Twp.) and second baseman Alex Kokos (fr. Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) each tallied three hits. Strickland had one home run and five RBIs. Catcher Zach Leach (fr. Long Valley, NJ/Pope John XXIII) hit a long ball and knocked in two runs.
Left fielder Shawn Leydon (jr. Roxbury, NJ/Roxbury), shortstop Matt Edwards (so. Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) and Kokos totaled one RBI apiece. Clapper scored three times and Leydon reached home twice. Designated hitter Matt Jolly (sr. Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape), center fielder Shane Brown (sr. Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon), Strickland, Leach and Edwards all scored one run.
Emory left fielder Wilson Morgan (sr. Atlanta, GA/Woodward Academy) and first baseman Bubby Terp (jr. Temple Terrace, FL/King) each produced two hits (four at bats). Designated hitter Brian Hernandez (sr. Miami, FL/G. Holmes Braddock) and Terp each drove in one run. Second baseman Jeff Ronpirin (sr. Lilburn, GA/Parkview) and Morgan had one run scored apiece.
Each team tallied a run in the first. Hernandez scored on a groundout and Strickland's base hit through the left side plated Clapper. The Profs posted a run in both the second and third innings. Brown came home on a sacrifice bunt by Edwards and Kokos hit a RBI single to left. Leydon scored on the play.
Emory thought it had a run across in the fifth on a base hit to left but Leydon gunned down the runner at home to end the inning and keep it a 3-1 game. The Eagles did put one on the board in the sixth. Terp brought home Ronpirin with a single through the right side. Leydon's sac fly added an insurance run in the seventh as Clapper touched the plate.
In the eighth, Leach hammered a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left for a two-run bomb and a 6-2 advantage. Jolly also scored on the homer. With the bases loaded, Strickland sent a 3-2 offering into deep left center. It dropped between two outfielders and bounced away. Strickland sprinted around the bases and beat the throw home for an inside-the-park grand slam and Rowan led 10-2.