Rowan baseball staves off elimination with 8-3 win over Salisbury in Division III baseball championship
A five-run fifth inning kept Rowan's season alive for at least one more day with another elimination game set for Sunday afternoon in Eastlake, Ohio.
Second-seeded Rowan extended its season with an 8-3 win over No. 3 seed Salisbury in an NCAA Division III baseball championship elimination game at Classic Auto Group Park on Saturday evening in Eastlake, Ohio.
Rowan will play another elimination game on Sunday (3 p.m., ncaa.com). It will face the loser of Saturday’s final game, between No. 6 seed Endicott and seventh seeded Adrian.
Rowan lost its opening game to Adrian on Friday night, sending itself to the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
“We were calmer today,” Rowan head coach Mike Dickson said. “We’ve still got a ways to go. Tomorrow’s a new day. We’ve got to keep on building off of this win.”
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The Profs (38-6) scored five runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach after taking a 2-0 lead over Salisbury in the first.
“We wanted to try and get on the board early and create a little pressure,” Dickson said. “I thought we played a little bit more relaxed.”
Salisbury responded with a run in the top of the third, but Brayden Davis countered with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning.
Davis’ third-inning homer was his 16th of the season and his 86th RBI, extending his program lead on the single-season RBI record.
Nick Struble, who finished his day hitting 3-for-4 with two RBIs, started the scoring in the fifth with a bases-loaded RBI single.
Ian Murphy crossed the plate on a wild pitch, and Brett Chiesa scored on an errant throw to home before Mason Dorsey capped the outburst with a two-run double that gave Rowan an 8-1 lead.
Austin Kreyenhagen struck out eight batters in a six-inning start for the Profs, allowing one run and four hits.
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“I had my good stuff, but not my ace stuff,” Kreyenhagen said. “But I still battled, and everything felt pretty good.”
Salisbury (37-11) scored twice with two out in the ninth, but the Seagulls could not extend their season with a rally in the final frame.