Rowan baseball drops opening game vs. Adrian in Division III championship, faces elimination on Saturday
Rowan held a 1-0 lead through five innings, but Adrian took the lead by scoring eight in the sixth and never looked back.
Seventh-seeded Adrian upset No. 2 seed Rowan, 10-1, in the NCAA Division III baseball championship at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio on Friday evening.
Rowan will face the loser of Friday’s final game, between No. 3 Salisbury and No. 6 Endicott, on Saturday (5 p.m., ncaa.com). The Profs need a win Saturday to keep themselves alive in the double-elimination tournament.
“Coming out of the losers’ bracket is tough,” Rowan head coach Mike Dickson said. “We’re going to find out what we’re made of tomorrow. It’s either win or go home from here on out. ... It’s up to all of us, what we’re made of. I guess we’ll find out in the next couple days.”
Rowan (37-6) held a 1-0 lead through five innings, but Adrian took the lead by scoring eight in the sixth.
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Adrian’s (38-12) avalanche started with a grand slam from Gabe Jones. The Michigan college scored four more times on 14 total at-bats in the inning.
Dickson pulled his starting pitcher, Zach Coluccio, with two outs in the sixth after Coluccio faced his 11th batter of the inning.
Coluccio finished his day allowing seven hits and five earned runs while striking out two in 5⅔ innings.
Ben Schild got the Profs out of the sixth without Adrian inflicting further damage, but the deficit proved too steep for the Profs. Jake Burns extended Adrian’s lead to 9-1 with an RBI single in the seventh.
Aiden Melvin added a final insurance run for Adrian in the ninth inning, driving in Jaxon McGuigan with a single to right center.
Brayden Davis drove in the Profs’ only run of the day with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Mason Dorsey scored from second base to give Davis his 85th RBI of the season, extending his lead on the school’s single-season record.
But Davis’ continued success at the plate was overshadowed by a costly two-out fielding error that extended the sixth inning and accounted for three runs.
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“We haven’t lost very much this year,” Davis said. “We do a good job responding after a loss, so I’m looking forward to bringing it tomorrow. Good baseball players flush the bad day and move on to the next day, and that’s what we plan on doing.”
Rowan left nine runners on base against Adrian, producing one run on nine hits. The loss snaps a 14-game win streak for the Profs dating back to April 18.