Chris Rowley

Classroom

As a pre-law major, Chris has a passion for the law. He also has a knack for interpreting and arguing it. He believes that there is a substantial impact to be made in the legal sphere, and that he can make a difference. He graduated high school with honors and received an appointment and acceptance to the United States Military Academy. Rowley has been named to the Dean’s List multiple times at the Academy. He has excelled in his law classes at West Point, never having made below a “B” in any of them. After graduation, Chris plans on attending law school. He has a passion for criminal, constitutional and contract law and would like to pursue a career in sports-related legal issues, as a JAG officer or its civilian counterpart as a trial lawyer.

Character

As a senior on the team as well as the oldest member of the team, Rowley sets an examples for how to conduct yourself both on and off the field. He has emerged as a leader on the team, especially among the pitchers. He will be called upon this spring to help lead the team to another conference championship. Chris leads by example, though there are times when he also talks and teaches and helps coach the other players. The lessons in leadership that he has learned on the baseball field will help him when he is called upon to lead soldiers into combat one day.

Community

As a cadet, Chris has been involved in just a couple organizations as most of his time is devoted to baseball. However, the involvement he has had has been very meaningful to him. He is an active member of the organization “I Am Second”, a Christian community which extends to campuses all across the nation. He has also been involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as well as Genesis. His involvement with these organizations has led to many great relationships with people who he now consider to be some of his closest friends. He has been to Boston as part of a five man team to provide food and shelter to the homeless in an effort to provide outreach and care for those less fortunate and to spread the good news of the Gospel. He also traveled to Managua, Nicaragua on a mission trip with “I Am Second” and Ebenezer Baptist Church for a week, which was both eye-opening and inspiring.

Competition

In 2012, Chris was named a CollegeBaseballInsider.com All-American, a NCBWA All-American and a Collegiate Baseball Magazine All-American. He has also received two preseason All-American awards going into the 2013 season. He set several Academy single-season records last spring, including wins in a season (11), innings pitched in a season (97.1), shutouts in a season (five), consecutive shutouts (four), consecutive scoreless innings (29) and games started (15). He was named Patriot League Pitcher of the Year and was selected to the All-Patriot League first team. Chris, who posted an 11-1 record and a 2.40 ERA last year, finished the season ranked ninth in the nation with 11 victories, third in WHIP (0.88), ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.92) and 10th with six complete games. The third-year hurler struck out 80 batters and walked only 22 in 97.1 innings pitched over 15 starts. He yielded just 13 extra base hits, and opponents batted just .190 against him. For his career, Chris boasts a 16-5 record to go along with a 3.86 ERA. He has nine career complete games with six shutouts. He has 141 strikeouts in 179.1 innings pitched.