CHESTER, VA - Brayden Davis hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the 11th, as #8 Rowan walked off a 9-7 win over #21 Penn State Harrisburg in the Profs' season opener which had been rescheduled and moved 260 miles away.
 
Rowan's first four games were canceled or postponed due to weather and field conditions. The Profs will play again this weekend, hosting a doubleheader against Vermont State Castleton that will be played at Diamond Nation in Flemington, NJ. First pitch is 11 a.m.
 
It marked Davis' first career game with two homers while he posted a personal best six RBI going 3-for-6 at the plate. Jason Schooley also hit his first home run as a Prof, with a solo shot in the eighth that broke a 2-2 tie, while he had two RBI.  Damon Suriani and Joey Bogart each had two hits on the day and Evan McCoach scored three runs in his Rowan debut.
 
Preseason All-American Zach Coluccio got the ball for opening day and went 5.0 innings, giving up two runs and striking out four. Christian Rice turned in a solid 3.0 innings with a personal-best seven strikeouts. Mark Grubb, Jake Andrey and Jack Norton made appearances in the late innings with Norton earning his first win as a Prof.
 
The Lions took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 11th by James Quici. McCoach led off the Profs' half of the inning being hit by a pitch. Nick Struble walked, setting the stage for Davis, who homered to centerfield to score McCoach and pinch runner Anthony Pallone and set off the Profs' celebration.
 
PSU Harrisburg (5-2) used a three-run triple by Cory Baker in the top of the ninth to take a 6-4 lead. But in the bottom half of the inning, Davis came through with a two-run homer to send the game into extra innings, scoring McCoach, who had singled.
 
The teams were tied, 2-2, in the eighth before Schooley broke that with a solo shot to right field. The Profs went up, 4-2, when pinch hitter Brett Chiesa singled and brought home pinch runner Kyle Lamanteer, who ran for Ian Murphy after his single.
 
PSU Harrisburg opened the scoring in the first inning with a run on one hit and one Rowan error.
 
Rowan jumped ahead in the bottom of the first as Davis lifted a sacrifice fly to score McCoach, who led off being hit by a pitch. Schooley laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring home Suriani from third to give the Profs a 2-1 lead. The Lions tied the game in the fourth, stringing together three hits.
 
Rowan heads to the RussMatt Invitational in Florida next week for Spring Break, with games from March 12-20.