2023 NCAA Baseball Super Regionals Preview

Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium

1324 Wayne St.
Salisbury, Md. 21804

Friday, May 26
Game 1 - 12 p.m.

Saturday, May 27
Game 2 - 11 a.m.
Game 3 (if necessary) - 45 minutes after Game 2 ends

• Weekend passes for the Salisbury Super Regional will be sold on-site and be valid for both Friday and Saturday games.
  • General Admission: $10
  • Students, Children & Senior Citizens: $7
  • Children under five - FREE
• All ticket sales are CASH ONLY.

• Salisbury enters NCAA Super Regional play after winning the Harrisburg Region, defeating Penn State Harrisburg three games to one in a two-team, best-of-five regional pod.
• The Sea Gulls won Game 1 at Harrisburg 6-2 last Friday. On Saturday the Lions bounced back to win Game 2, 12-11, but SU regrouped to take Game 3 by a margin of 13-5. Salisbury wrapped up the region championship with a 10-5 Game 4 win on Sunday.
• The regional title is the eighth in Salisbury program history (2001, '04, ‘11, ’14, ‘15, ’21, ‘22, ’23) and marks the first time the Sea Gulls have won three straight.
• The Sea Gulls are hosting Super Regionals for the second straight year. In 2022 Salisbury knocked off Wooster in three games, outlasting the Fighting Scots in a 18-16 winner-take-all finale.

• Salisbury has seen multiple program records fall during the 2023 season. Outfielder Cameron Hyder became the Sea Gulls' all-time leader in games (185), hits (265) and runs (200). Pitcher Corey Burton is now the SU recordholder in pitching appearances (75), and fellow hurler Jimmy Adkins owns the program record for innings pitched (305.2).
• Three Sea Gulls are currently engaged in a home run chase, with Jacob Ference (12), Danny Sheeler (12) and Kavi Caster (10) all in hot pursuit of the SU single-season record of 13, set by Dave Westervelt in 1998. Salisbury has hit 58 home runs as a team this season, breaking the program record of 56 set by the 2009 Sea Gulls.
• Several other records and milestones could be reached before the end of the season. Shortstop Stephen Rice is just one double from matching the program standard of 51, and Adkins is 15 strikeouts away from becoming just the second Sea Gull to fan 300 for his career.

• Salisbury leads NCAA Division III in scoring offense, averaging 11.1 runs per game, and also leads the nation in sacrifice bunts (54).
• The Sea Gulls rank top-10 nationally in eight other categories, including all three slash lines (.342/.446/.566), doubles per game (2.77), home runs per game (1.49), HBPs (100), fielding percentage (.976) and double plays per game (1.00).
• Luke Weddell has established himself as the nation's best sacrifice bunt artist, leading Division III in sac bunts per game (0.45) and ranking second in total sac bunts (15).
• Scott Cameron gets hit by the pitch more often than almost anyone in the nation, ranking second in Division III in total HBPs (24) and HBPs per game (0.62).
• Jimmy Adkins owns the fourth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.00) and has allowed the sixth-fewest walks per nine innings (0.87). He also slots just outside the top 100 in ERA (2.86).
• Jacob Ference and Danny Sheeler are tied for 50th in the nation with 12 home runs apiece.
• Ference averages a home run every 9.33 at-bats, with his 0.38 homers per game slotting 15th nationally. He also ranks 39th in slugging percentage (.759)
• Sheeler ranks top-45 in slugging percentage (.779) and on-base percentage (.533) while owning the nations' 96th-best batting average (.414).
• Cameron Hyder maintains his reputation as one of the toughest batters to strike out in Division III. He fans once every 23.9 at-bats, good for 15th in the nation, after finishing the 2022 season ranking second in Division III (43.2).

• Rowan, 33-13, is playing in its 29th NCAA Tournament and emerged from the Ambler, Pa. (Arcadia) Region with its seventh regional title.
• The Profs defeated SUNY Bridgeport 12-3 on Friday and Susquehanna 20-0 on Saturday before knocking off Susquehanna a second time, 4-3, in the Sunday finale.
• RU won the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) regular season title after going 13-5 in league play. Seven Profs earned All-NJAC recognition, including three first-teamers (DH Dylan Maria, CF Phil Sedalis, 3B Anthony Schooley), and head coach Mike Dickson was named NJAC Coach of the Year.

• Rowan is in the midst of a historic offensive surge, having set program records for hits (598), doubles (128), RBIs (389) and total bases (866) in its regional clincher against Susquehanna.
• The Profs lead the nation in doubles (128) and doubles per game (2.78), as well as ranking top-25 in runs (433), runs per game (9.4), batting average (.351), hits (597), walks (236), on-base percentage (.436), slugging percentage (.508) and shutouts (9).
• Tyler Cannon enters super regionals as the national leader in doubles (29) and doubles per game (0.63). He also ranks seventh in hits (79) and 35th in runs (58).
• A .419 hitter, Phil Sedalis ranks third in the nation in triples (8) and fourth in total hits (83). He also slots top-30 in runs (60), RBIs (58) and total bases (130).
• Profs ace Zach Grace has struck out 98 batters this season, good for 14th in Division III. He also boasts top-50 laurels in hits allowed per nine innings (6.57) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.71).

• Salisbury leads the all-time series 7-5. The teams first squared off in 1999 and have faced each other seven times since 2017.
• The Sea Gulls hosted the Profs at Williams Stadium earlier this season, winning 6-4 on March 29.
• The teams split a doubleheader in Salisbury on March 20, 2021, with SU winning the opener 4-3 and RU rebounding to take the nightcap 6-2. Both sides made it to Cedar Rapids that June.