Rowan softball, baseball to host NCAA super regionals in the same season for the first time

For the first time in school history, Rowan’s baseball and softball programs will host NCAA super regionals during the same season.

The Profs’ softball team (40-9) opens a three-game series against Colby College (30-12) of Maine at 2 p.m. Thursday. The baseball Profs (35-5), who have never hosted a super regional, will face Randolph-Macon College (29-15) from Virginia at noon Friday.

Both programs are looking to again be among the final eight teams in the Division III playoffs. They both reached the eight-team championship round last season but were knocked out in the first double-elimination tournament.

Softball coach Kim Wilson, in her 30th season, has led Rowan to six super regional championships, including each of the last three. She’s one of the winningest head softball coaches in Division III, with over 1,000 victories, but the Profs have never won a national title.

Baseball coach Mike Dickson, a 2002 Rowan graduate, has had similar success. Since taking the helm in 2015, he has led the program to two championship-round berths — in 2021 and 2025. Before that, the program hadn’t advanced beyond super regionals since 2005. The Profs won a national title in 1979.

“We’ve been home the last two years, but this year [baseball is] joining us,” Wilson said. “We have alums that are married on both teams, so hopefully some of them come out and they can walk across the street to see both games.”

Dickson added: “I’m excited to see a lot of the alumni come back. I’m excited to see the town of Glassboro and our fans come out and support. … It is Memorial Day weekend, so we are fighting with the holiday, but I’m hoping to see a lot of our alumni out here.”

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Rowan baseball, which has won seven NCAA regionals, is making its fifth super regional appearance in the last six years and second straight. Despite losing several seniors from last season, the Profs have been just as dominant.

They won the New Jersey Athletic Conference regular-season title and conference championship to earn a top seed for the NCAA Tournament. They’re also on a 12-game winning streak, dating back to April 18.

“It starts with the pitching staff,” Dickson said. “If they’re not consistent, then we’re not going to be as consistent as we need to be, and then you talk about timely hitting and two-out hitting. Our offense has worked together to be able to produce runs consistently, but consistency really starts with the pitching staff and works through the defense.”

Right-handed pitcher Austin Kreyenhagen has made a leap this season. The sophomore from Souderton has a 3.47 ERA in 62⅓ innings across 10 starts. Sicklerville native Evan Brasberger has taken on a larger role in the Profs’ bullpen and has a 4.20 ERA in 30 innings.

Shamong’s Brayden Davis, a two-way player, hit his first two grand slams of his career in the Profs’ NCAA regional series against Southern Maine. The junior from Seneca High School is Rowan’s best hitter and has a .413 batting average. He leads the team in hits (71) and homers (14).

Between last year’s mentors including All-American Phil Sedalis paving the way, and a group seeking redemption, Dickson believes this team has what it takes to go all the way.

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“There’s 300 Division III colleges in the country,” he said. “Only eight go to the World Series. … You don’t realize how good those teams are out there. You don’t realize the work that it really takes to not only get there but to win the College World Series.

“Each year that we’ve been to a regional, we’ve been to nine straight regionals, we’re playing better teams. It makes our players better because we learn from those moments.”

Wilson, whose group is making its fourth straight super regional appearance and holds eight regional titles, has new players in the mix. Her Profs also claimed an NJAC championship this season.

“Basically, everybody in our infield was brand-new,” she said. “We have one junior that came out of the outfield. She was an outfielder for two years; now she’s playing second base. So all of those kids have just continued to work hard, and their growth has been unbelievable. … They just play nice and steady, which is hard to do.”

Emily McCutcheon, a senior pitcher from Audubon High, has been a key part of upholding the team’s winning ways. McCutcheon set the Division III record for the most innings pitched in a game in the 2024 NJAC tournament. She tossed 20 innings, which was just one inning shy of tying the longest game in Division III.

Two years later, she’s only gotten better.

McCutcheon, who has a 1.05 ERA through 27 appearances (25 starts), threw her second no-hitter in April 14 against Rutgers-Camden. In the NCAA regionals, she tossed complete games against St. Thomas (Texas) and East Texas Baptist, including a shutout in the second game of a doubleheader against host ETBU.

“We’re putting the ball in your hands,” Wilson said. “I went up to her after we won the first game, ‘How do you feel? You want the ball?’ She said yes — sometimes the ball moves a little bit more when you’re tired, and I thought she did a great job of doing what we needed, and our defense played really well behind her.”

While Wilson hopes to advance and bring home the program’s first championship, it’s more so about “having fun along the way.”

“That’s why we’re able to be successful,” she said.

West Chester baseball (42-10) is returning to the Division II super regionals for the first time since 2022. The Rams beat Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg in the regional round and will open a best-of-three series at Millersville University at 1 p.m. Thursday. Millersville (39-16) knocked the Rams out of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament earlier this month and won three of the teams’ four regular-season games.