AUBURNDALE, FL – The 25th-ranked Rowan University baseball team scored at least 10 runs for the fourth straight game in an 11-4 victory over Mount St. Joseph University at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
The Profs picked up their fourth consecutive victory and sit at 7-1 overall. The Lions have a 6-4 record.
Shortstop Dillon Mendel (jr. Sparta, NJ/Sparta) was five-for-five with two doubles, a triple, four RBIs and two runs scored. Second baseman Alex Kokos (so. Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley), first baseman Anthony Harrold (jr. Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) and left fielder Monny Strickland (sr. Egg Harbor Twp., NJ/Egg Harbor Twp.) each tallied one RBI and two runs. Harrold added a home run. Catcher Steven Hewa (jr. Galloway, NJ/Absegami) hit a double and center fielder Dan Shane (jr. Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) had a triple.
Left-hander Dante Scafidi (jr. Sewell, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) hurled five innings for the win (1-0). He surrendered one run and two hits while fanning seven batters. Brandon Shelton (fr. Cincinnati, OH/Northwest) took the loss (1-1).
Mount St. Joseph center fielder Ryan Murray (fr. Cincinnati, OH/Colerain) went three-for-four with one RBI and one run. Right fielder Nathan Hunter (sr. Venay, IN/Switzerland County) totaled two hits (four at bats). Designated hitter Nathan Renner (fr. Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) produced a triple and two RBIs. Shortstop Garrett Hogan (so. Hamilton, OH/Badin) drove in one run.
Mendel scored on an error in the second to put Rowan ahead 1-0. The Lions tied the score on Hogan's RBI groundout in the fourth. The Profs posted seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Strickland led off with a walk and came home on Mendel's double. Hewa registered a sac fly and Mendel touched the plate. Shane hit a RBI triple to right center and scored on Kokos' single. Designated hitter Frank McHugh (jr. Kingwood, NJ/Delaware Valley Reg.) raced home on a fielder's choice and Mendel doubled in two more runs.
In the sixth, Strickland plated Kokos with a single and rounded the bases on a triple by Mendel (10-1). Renner's triple in the seventh brought home two runs and the score was 10-3. Harrold homered to right field in the eighth and Murray knocked in one run in the ninth.
The Profs have a day off before battling Bowdoin College on Wednesday, March 14 at 10 a.m. in Lakeland, FL.