Austin Kreyenhagen took the mound in an elimination game on Sunday, June 1, and threw a complete game for the first time in his collegiate career, as the Profs got a 6-1 win over the Big Red to eliminate them from the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. The freshman allowed just five hits while dishing out eight strikeouts in the two teams’ second meeting of the tournament.

Kreyenhagen allowed Denison their sole run in the third off a sacrifice fly by Erik Sundgren, but proceeded to go seven scoreless for a complete game with 141 pitches thrown. 

“Overall, I was pretty decent with all my pitches,” Kreyenhagen said. “I had strikeouts, but the rest of it was my defense behind me. I’m super grateful for them.”

Kreyenhagen wasn’t even the first Profs pitcher to throw a complete game on Sunday. Earlier in the day, Zach Coluccio went a full nine innings in a 13-2 win over Trinity.

 Using only two arms on the day, head coach Mike Dickson says, comes as a relief for their pitching staff.

“When they [Coluccio and Kreyenhagen] have opportunities to have complete games, it’s huge for our bullpen,” Dickson said.

Prior to Rowan baseball’s second outing with Denison, Kreyenhagen hadn’t started in over a month. His last start came on April 25 against Rutgers-Newark. The decision to leave Kreyenhagen in as long as he did, Dickson says, was fueled by how long he had been away from the mound prior to their second matchup with Denison.

“I looked at my pitching coach in the seventh or eighth and he said ‘I’m not going out there to take him out so you gotta do it,’ and I said ‘I’m not taking him out I’m gonna let him go,’” Dickson said.  “He hasn’t thrown in over a month. He’s fresh and we needed him and credit to him for being able to battle.”

Both Rowan and Denison have seen a lot of each other in recent years. In the 2024 NCAA Regionals, Denison beat Rowan twice to knock them out of the tournament. Tyler Cannon, who was on the 2024 Profs team that was eliminated by the Big Red, was excited to come out in the team’s fourth meeting in the past two years.

“Last year things ended and we came up way short on our goals,” Cannon said. “I was telling some of the guys in preseason that I had a weird feeling we were gonna see Denison in the World Series so it’s cool to see how things shaped up and I’m happy we were able to beat them.”

Rowan took the first lead of the contest in the second inning with an RBI single by Bogart, but Denison scored in the third to tie things up. The Profs added another run fourth to give them the lead, but they would pull away from Denison for good in the sixth.

In that inning, Marco Mannino scored two with a double to right center field. Phil Sedalis, the Profs home run leader this season with 16, was intentionally walked in back-to-back at-bats with Mannino in the on-deck circle. Mannino says in the moments before he hit his two-RBI double, he knew he had to come through at the plate.

“They intentionally walked Phil [Sedalis] prior, so I knew I had to execute,” Mannino said. “I knew I needed to lock in.”

Jason Morgan followed behind with an RBI single to total a three run inning for Rowan to give them a 5-1 lead. They added another insurance run in the ninth to knock the Big Red out of the NCAA tournament.

“We beat a heck of a ball club,” Dickson said. “It was a challenge, but our guy’s did a heck of a job.”

The Profs are now four wins away from making it to the finals of the College World Series and will play the undefeated Wisconsin-Whitewater on Monday, June 2. In order to advance in the tournament, Rowan will have to beat the Warhawks twice. One loss, and the team will be eliminated and sent back to Glassboro.

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