Knoch graduate Chase Rowe was bypassed by Major League Baseball, but not by the sport itself.

Rowe, a 2005 Slippery Rock University graduate and a professional prospect as a three-year starter there, is the new head baseball coach at La Roche College.

He replaces Rich Pasquale, who left La Roche after last season to become Jeff Messer's assistant coach at SRU. Rowe served as Pasquale's assistant last spring.

"Getting passed over in the (baseball amateur) draft bothered me at first,"Rowe admitted. "I was a little down for a couple of weeks. I had worked so hard to get a chance and it didn't happen.

"But I've also had my eye on coaching for a long time. I've been a student of the game since my high school days. I've read all the books and I've helped teammates out with their hitting."

Messer and Pasquale have been good friends for years. When Pasquale's assistant coach at La Roche moved on after the 2005 season, he called Rowe and offered him the job.

La Roche finished 26-14 last season, losing to Frostburg (Md.) State in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship game.

Only 23, Rowe is a head coach after just one year as an assistant.

"Believe me, I feel very, very fortunate,"he said. "Most coaches my age are either graduate assistants or volunteers. This is definitely a right place, right time kind of thing."

When Pasquale took the SRU job, Rowe applied to replace him. La Roche interviewed other applicants as well.

"A lot of players on the team went to bat for me,"Rowe said. "They wanted me to coach them."

Rowe said he also feels fortunate to have played under Messer at The Rock and coached under Pasquale.

Messer has more than 600 career wins at Slippery Rock. Pasquale was 96-76-2 in four years at La Roche after the program was 24-134 over the five previous seasons.

"I can't say enough about what Rich has already done for me,"Rowe said. "He built a solid program here out of nothing.

"I paid attention to how Coach Messer handled his players and handled each game. He never got overly excited or carried away with any win or loss. That's the way I want to be."

Rowe batted .412 his senior year at SRU, hitting seven homers, collecting 39 RBIand a school-record 21 doubles.

"My success as a player won't help me in coaching as much as my failures as a player,"he said. "I've had every possible problem with my swing, so I know how to correct things.

"I was never that gifted as a player. I had to work hard to accomplish anything I did. That's the kind of team I want to have."

Rowe improved his statistics each year at SRU. He hit .287 with four homers, 29 RBIand eight doubles as a sophomore and .343 with six homers, 35 RBIand 10 doubles as a junior before hitting over .400 his senior year.

Rowe's goal is to build La Roche's baseball program into a consistent Division IIIregional and national contender.

Eventually, he wants to become a longtime head coach at a Division IIor Division I school.

A key player for Saxonburg's Eagle County League championship teams the past few years, Rowe hinted that his playing days are probably over.

"I've done what I wanted to do as a player,"he said. "I think it's time to turn the page there. Coaching is my passion now."