GRANVILLE, OHIO - Rowan fought off elimination in the NCAA Granville Regional, by rallying to defeat Hanover, 14-7, and will face #2 Denison in the championship on Sunday at noon. The Profs will need to defeat Denison twice to claim the title as the host team is undefeated thus far in the double-elimination bracket.

Rowan (29-14) rebounded from a 26-7 loss to Denison earlier in the day, and endured a weather delay that pushed the start time of the Hanover game to after 9 p.m. But the resilient Profs rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to post the win which ended after 12:30 a.m.

Game 2
Tyler Cannon went 2-for-3 with five RBI and Pat Defeciani was 2-for-4 with four RBI to pace the win. Thomas Sullivan made the start with Brayden Davis (3-0) pitching 2.2 innings to earn the victory, while Jayson Dougherty, Mark Grubb and Nick Cugino were able to finish out the game.

Hanover (31-17), which eliminated Millikin in the first game of the day, scored three runs in the first two innings.

Rowan posted its first run of the game in the third without a hit as Anthony Schooley walked and Chris Serrano reached on a fielder's choice, while Schooley moved to third on an error. Tyler Cannon brought him home with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-1.

In the fifth, Rowan had five straight base hits, and a total of seven, to score five runs. Karson Harcourt, Schooley and Serrano each had RBI singles to tie the game, and then Cannon drove in two with a single to give the Profs a 6-4 lead. Rowan  built the lead up to 9-4 in the sixth after an RBI double by Cannon and a two-run double from Defeciani.

In the bottom of the sixth, Hanover duplicated Rowan's effort by stringing together five straight hits and scored three to cut the Profs' lead to 9-7.

Rowan sealed the win with a five-run eighth inning that included a fielder's choice RBI from Marco Mannino, a sacrifice fly from Cannon and a two-run double by Defeciani.

Game 1
Denison (41-6), which was the designated away team, exploded for seven runs in their first at-bat. The Big Red strung together six hits and took advantage of three walks/hit batters to take a 7-0 lead. The host team expanded on that with another run in the second.

Rowan started chipping away at the 8-0 deficit, as Maria led off with a walk and Morgan and Harcourt hit back-to-back singles, setting it up for a two-run single by Anthony Schooley. The Profs added another in the third when Phil Sedalis walked and raced home as Defeciani laced a double down the right-field line to trail, 8-3.

The teams traded runs in the fourth, as Rowan got one after Schooley singled and scored on a ground out by Chris Serrano, to make it a 9-5 game.

That's the closest that the Profs would get as Denison bettered their first inning output and scored 10 runs in the sixth to take a 19-4 lead. The Big Red added six more runs over the course of the seventh and eighth innings to go up, 25-4.

Rowan scored twice in the ninth as Joey Bogart drew a bases-loaded walk and Cannon drove in Schooley with a sacrifice fly. Denison added one more in the ninth and Maria closed out the game with his team-best 13th home run of the year.

Starter Zach Coluccio (5-3) suffered the loss while Jake Reese went 5.0 innings and recorded a career-high seven strikeouts. Shane Sax finished out the final three innings.