RALEIGH, NC -- #6 Rowan kicked off the 2026 season splitting a pair of games at the Grand Slam Triangle Classic on Friday. The Profs took down Eastern Mennonite, 11-1, in the day's first game, but fell to North Carolina Wesleyan, 11-9, in the nightcap.

Game one
Rowan plated 11 unanswered runs to help knock off the Royals in five innings. Aly Reim, Mikayla Dansky, and Ava Fisher each had two hits while Zoey Rogers drove in three runs and scored twice in the win.

Emily McCutcheon allowed just two hits and an unearned run in three innings to pick up the win. BethAnne Doderer spun the final two scoreless innings, striking out three.

Down 1-0, Rogers' two-run single plus an RBI base hit from Reim was part of a five-run second inning to put the Profs ahead.

With runners on second and third in the third, Dansky knocked in both with her infield single. Carly Polsky, Ava Fisher, and Reim all added extra-base RBI hits as Rowan upped the advantage to 11-1.

Game two
Rowan raced out to a 7-0 score, but it was North Carolina Wesleyan taking a late lead to hold on for the win.

Kate Evick recorded a career-high three hits and also scored a run while Rogers went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.

Ava Fisher drove in a pair of runs as part of a seven-run second inning. The Bishops cut into the lead with a three-spot in the bottom half.

Fisher also started in the circle and threw into the fourth. North Carolina Wesleyan took advantage of two Prof errors in that frame to help cross four runs to tie the contest at 7-7.

Pinch runner Jodi McGuigan came on for Evick, who led off the fifth with a single, to score on an error to put the Profs back on top, 8-7. A two-run single from the Bishop's Brooke Markiewicz in the bottom half plus an RBI single by Ragan Holloman keyed a three-spot for the Bishops to take the lead for good. McCutcheon took the loss, yielding four earned runs on five hits in the two innings worked.

Rowan will get back at it tomorrow with games against William Peace at 11 a.m. followed by a matchup with #25 Salisbury in a rematch of last season's NCAA Super Regional.