Led by the resilience of pitcher Mike Shannon, Rowan baseball returns to the NCAA Tournament

The senior hurler was named Pitcher of the Year in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. More importantly for him? Being a key part of the Profs' return to the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament.

Rowan pitcher Mike Shannon was named the NJAC Pitcher of the Year leading the Profs to the regional rounds of the NCAA Division III Tournament.Read moreRowan Athletics

by Kerith Gabriel

Published May 17, 2024, 9:00 a.m. ET

For two seasons, Rowan pitcher Mike Shannon had to battle not just the opposition, but his own body, to get on the field.

His sophomore year, a hamstring injury slowed his start to the season. Junior year, it was his hamstring again, coupled with a muscle strain in his upper back.

Both seasons still ended with Shannon, now a senior, earning all-conference honors. This season, coming in healthy and determined to take full advantage of it, Shannon finished as the Pitcher of the Year in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. More important for him was being a cog in the Profs’ return to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where they’ll open Friday on the road against Millikin University in first-round play of the Granville (Ohio) Regional.

“It taught me a lot about just how to be resilient because, yeah, it’s so easy to get down on yourself,” Shannon said Wednesday as the team traveled to Ohio. “But we as a team put the work in, our staff has put the work in, and, you know, it’s paid off. So I think I just took away that if you really just put the work in, anything can happen.”

Resilience seems to be the theme of this year’s roster. After starting with a loss in its season opener, the Profs rattled off eight straight wins and finished 27-13. Shannon certainly was the ace and finished the regular season with a 3.13 ERA in 11 starts along with a team-high 63 strikeouts.

Shannon was part of a Rowan squad last season that ran through the regionals, with a 12-3 win over SUNY Brockport followed by a pair of wins against Susquehanna — the first a 20-0 rout. The performance made Rowan one of the favorites to make the College World Series, but those hopes were dashed after a sweep by Salisbury (Md.) in the super regional.

So what’s different about this year?

“The guys that were here, we didn’t forget that,” Shannon said. “I think having that coming into the year really motivated us. We started out [this] season pretty well on a hot streak. And then we started conference play. We lost some games. It wasn’t looking the best, but we never lost confidence. I think just the fact that we don’t want to give up, and we know we can compete with anyone in the country.”

That confidence will need to be high against Millikin (29-14), which is riding a three-game winning streak. With a win Friday, Rowan would advance to play the winner of Hanover College (Ind.) and Denison College, the regional host.

But the confidence is there, Shannon says. The confidence stems from the leadership the team has received from head coach Mike Dickson, who has guided Rowan to its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. He’s also led the Profs to three consecutive super regionals. After learning of their bid and who they would be playing, Dickson, Shannon says, put everything in layman’s terms.

“We could conceivably play one of the top-ranked teams in the country,” said Shannon, referring to Denison (39-6), currently ranked No. 1 in the NCAA’s Region VII. Rowan is currently ranked No. 5 in Region IV. “He told us it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the field, doesn’t matter where you’re playing, his focus is making sure we compete. Execute what you’re supposed to do. And that comes down to the little things: Run your plays right, locate your pitches, get the ball down, and get a guy out. Whatever you have to do to put yourself in a good chance to win.”

Win or lose, Shannon already is ahead of the game. He’s preparing to graduate this year with a degree in finance and hopes to find a role where he can merge his love of baseball and his degree into a career. It’s been a “fun ride” at Rowan, one he hopes culminates in a trip to the College World Series.

If not, hey, that’s OK, too.

“I would say even if we were to lose, we’ve more than won,” said Shannon. “We’ve all put the work in, and if we lose, but lose knowing we did everything we could and come up short, to me that’s baseball. That’s life. This might sound cliché, but this team has become a family for me. I have friends for life here that helped me get through some tough spots. That, to me, is pretty awesome.”