VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – The 8th-ranked Rowan baseball team opened its 2023 season with a high-scoring start as the Profs totaled 34 runs in a sweep of Virginia Wesleyan (1-9) by scores of 20-11 and 14-7.  
 
Newcomer Phil Sedalis drove in nine runs in his Rowan debut, as he had seven RBI with two home runs in the first game, and finished the day going 7-for-10 with nine RBI. Tyler Cannon went 6-for-13 in the two games, scoring four runs, while Dylan Maria went 6-for-11 with six runs scored, two home runs and six RBI.
 
Game 1
Cannon led off the Profs' season with a single and scored the first run of the year on a single by Anthony Schooley. After Ryan Murphy singled and Maria reached on an error, Sedalis made his first at-bat a memorable one with a grand slam to give the Profs a 5-0 lead.
 
Virginia Wesleyan got three runs back in the bottom half with three hits and Prof error, but Rowan countered on back-to-back doubles by Cannon and Murphy to take a 6-3 lead. Rowan added one in the fourth as freshman Mason Dorsey got his first career hit with a double and scored on a double by Cannon. The Profs added two more in the fifth, helped by one error and an RBI ground out from Marco Mannino, to go up, 9-5.
 
The Marlins took a brief lead in the game, thanks to a five-run fifth inning, which included a three-run home run. But Rowan didn't waste any time retaking the lead as it used RBI singles from Murphy and Maria, and then a sacrifice fly by Sedalis to take a 12-10 lead.
 
Rowan added three more in the eighth, helped by Maria's RBI double, and a single from Chris Curcio, while Karson Harcourt scored when hit by the pitch with the bases loaded.
 
The Profs exploded with five runs in the ninth as Maria connected on his first home run of the year and Sedalis hit his second of the game, with both driving in two runs apiece. Dorsey had his second hit of the game and drove in the 20th run with a double.
 
Newcomer Zach Grace, a transfer from Wake Forest, made the opening day start and went four innings and struck out six, while Mike Shannon earned the victory in three innings of work, with four strikeouts.
           
Game 2
The Profs got things going quickly again scoring five in the first. Maria hit a two-run home run, for his second round-tripper of the day, and Sedalis followed with a two-run double, and then stole home after advancing to third on a single by Jason Morgan. Virginia Wesleyan got three runs in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back home runs, including a two-run shot by Trent Hanchey, to pull within 5-3.
 
In the second, Murphy connected on his first homer of the year, with a solo shot. Rowan added five in the third inning with an RBI single from Cannon, a two-run double by Murphy and a two-run home run from Pat Defeciani to give the Profs a 12-3 lead.
 
Defeciani drove in another run in the seventh, scoring Schooley, and Curcio posted an RBI single giving Rowan a 14-3 lead. Virginia Wesleyan would tack on six runs in the final three innings to provide the final margin.
 
Senior Jason O'Neill earned the win in four innings and posting seven strikeouts, with Nick Hammer and Chase Rieger each throwing a few innings in relief.
 
The Profs and Marlins will close out the three-game series on Sunday with a single game beginning at noon.