Photo By Nicholas Campbell
By Jacob Miller
The 2026 Susquehanna Baseball team has a lot of hope for the season. Head Coach Denny Bowers returns for his 21st season at Susquehanna after becoming one of the most successful coaches in Susquehanna baseball history.
In 2025, the Riverhawks went 18-22 and were 11-13 in conference play which didn’t earn them a trip to the playoffs. However, one of the major parts of Susquehanna’s offense is now gone, as Infielder Tony Rossi has graduated after a successful career with the River Hawks. Rossi led the team last season with a 0.347 batting average, 43 runs, 52 hits and six home runs.
Although a major loss for the River Hawks in the batter’s box, the Riverhawks return some key players, including star junior infielder Michael Gagliard, who is looking for a breakout season.
“My personal expectations are to be on base as much as possible to contribute to help my team win,” Gagliardi said.
Gagliardi had a great 2025 season as he started all 40 games at short stop and had the second-highest batting average on the team with a 0.325, going 51 for 157.
So far in 2026, Gagliardi has already proved to be one of the focal points for this River Hawks team. Through the first 12 games, Gagliardi has a 0.318 average in 44 at bats, drawing in 14 hits and 10 runs.
In the bullpen, returners like Ben Gearhart, Evan Applegate and Robert Kramer are expected to make heavy contributions.
“I expect myself to compete with consistency, confidence and focus every time I step on the mound. My aim is to lower my ERA, limit walks, and increase strikeouts by attacking hitters early and trusting my abilities. I also want to be a liable teammate; someone coaches can count on in big moments and someone who brings energy and leadership to the team. Overall, I want to finish the year knowing I gave it my all and that will hopefully lead to a landmark championship for the team,” Kramer said.
Kramer is a junior pitcher and in 2025 he appeared in seven games and struck out 8 hitters in 10.2 innings.
While the team still has some remaining pieces from their 2025 campaign, there are a lot of younger faces on the team that are also expected to shine with the “next man up” mentality.
“Younger guys [who] I think are going to step up are Aidan proctor and Josh Domaracki, they have shown great things so far,” Gagliardi said.
Proctor and Domaracki are both sophomores with Proctor playing in the infield while Domaracki serves in the bullpen as a pitcher.
“I think Aidan Proctor is going to have a breakout year. Seeing his swing in practice is a thing of beauty, and we already saw glimpses last year when he hit a towering home run against York. On the pitching side, I think Josh Domaracki is going to make a big impact this year. He is a transfer who did not get a lot of innings at his old school, but I see a big impactful workload coming his way,” Kramer Said.
So far in 2026, Domaracki has pitched the most innings for the River Hawks with 16 innings pitched, while holding a 3.94 era. Proctor has started in six of the team’s 12 games, picking up two hits and drawing in 2 runs for Susquehanna.
The Riverhawks have seen a lot of success so far in 2026 as they have started on a 9-3 record. The team played in North Carolina and beat Pfeiffer University in their opener of the season. They dropped two games back-to-back to Piedmont University and RV Berry College but would go on to win seven of their next eight games to improve their record to 8-3. The games were played in Fort Pierce, FL during the school’s spring break, and saw the River Hawks earn wins over Norwich University, Capital University and a shut-out win against Misericordia.
The team’s success in Florida led to recognition from the Landmark Conference, as Michael Girardi took home Baseball Athlete of the Week and Gearhart earned Baseball Pitcher of the Week.
In the team’s most recent game, Susquehanna scored 17 runs over Franklin and Marshall to pick up the win. Gagliardi finished the game with three hits, three runs and three RBIs.
The Susquehanna Baseball team will have their first home action of the 2026 season when they take on a doubleheader with Wilkes University on Saturday, March 14 at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.