Phillies draft two pitchers from same small Division II college: ‘I don’t know if there was something in the water down there’

The campus of Lander University sits in Greenwood, S.C., about an hour-and-15-minute drive from all the more notable landmarks in the area. It takes an hour and 15 minutes to get from the small public school to Greenville, S.C., or Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia. A few minutes longer to get to Clemson University. Closer to 90 minutes to visit the University of South Carolina.

“It’s kind of in the middle of everywhere,” former student and current head baseball coach Jason Burke said. “… So you can wagon wheel and go to a lot of places from Lander.”

Two players from that little-known Southern institution could have a much farther trip ahead of them after they were both drafted by the Phillies on the second day of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft on Monday. Pitcher Tyler Bowen was selected by Philadelphia in the 12th round, and pitcher Richie Cortese was taken less than two hours later in the 17th round.

The next stop for the pair of Division II relievers might be at the team’s training complex in Clearwater, Fla.

“It’s not very usual,” Phillies assistant general manager and head of amateur scouting Brian Barber said. “I don’t know if there was something in the water down there in South Carolina by him, but Aaron Jersild, who is our area scout down in that area, identified both guys fairly early in the process this past spring and just right away was just impressed with the stuff.”

Neither Bowen nor Cortese was scouted coming out of high school, at least not to Jersild’s knowledge. Jersild was first made aware of Bowen last fall when he attended a workout day the Lander baseball team put on for scouts. He was intrigued by the right-hander’s athletic frame, his fastball in the mid-90s mph and the shape of his curveball. Jersild made a note to go see him again during the Bearcats’ regular season.

About halfway into the spring, Jersild received a message from Burke, someone he’s known and trusted for years. The Lander coach wanted the scout to come see Bowen again, this time in real action. He also wanted him to check out Cortese, another bullpen piece that Jersild hadn’t seen yet. The two were throwing harder and making progress, and Burke promised both would pitch.

“On a whim,” Jersild said, he left his home in Alpharetta, Ga., on a Saturday and drove three and a half hours to Lander’s Stephen B. Dolny Stadium. He arrived during the second inning of the first game of a doubleheader.

Bowen and Cortese each got into that game, and Jersild was pleased. He continued to like what he saw from Bowen, and he was impressed by a “big, physical kid” in the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Cortese, who reached 95 mph and had a sharp slider. Jersild was the only scout there that day, but there were around 20 in attendance the next time he came to watch the Lander boys. Bowen and Cortese had officially caught the attention of big-league organizations.

“So at that point I knew it was: OK, the cat’s out of the bag,” Jersild said. “There’s no secrets here.”

On May 29, Jersild met with each of Bowen and Cortese for roughly 45 minutes to learn more about the players and their makeup. Right before that meeting started, Jersild received the devastating news that his father, Paul, was about to take his final breaths. He passed away the day after his 94th birthday.

Jersild wanted both pitchers, and the timing of his one-on-one encounters with them added an extra emotional layer. But there’s never any assurance that a team can pick up any specific player that a scout points out, let alone two. After the college season, Bowen went on to pitch in the MLB Draft League. The Phillies then had Cortese come to Citizens Bank Park to throw in front of the front office last week.

Philadelphia ended up being able to draft Bowen with the 371st overall pick and grab Cortese at No. 521.

“As scouts, we travel a lot within our territories,” Jersild said. “We spend a lot of time in hotels and ballparks away from our families, and we’re chasing players. … The draft, there’s just no guarantee that, as an area scout, you’re going to sign the player you really wanted to. Oftentimes, it’s actually somewhat rare.

“I mean, just the stars aligned with it. These guys were under the radar somewhat, from a smaller school. But I had convictions. I really did in both of them. And I thought it was worth a chance on both of them.”

Bowen and Cortese each had unique paths to being drafted.

Bowen, 22, went to Indian River High School in Dagsboro, Del., where he also played quarterback on the football team. The 6-foot-tall pitcher then moved on to play for Burke and the Bearcats at the Division II level. While missing the 2024 season due to injury, he stayed at Lander for four years when he “easily could’ve left in the transfer portal,” according to Burke. Bowen did announce his commitment to transfer to Oregon last month, but he’s expected to forgo that opportunity to sign with the Phillies.

The 22-year-old Cortese ended up at Dickinson State in North Dakota after graduating from Laurel High School in Laurel, Mont. He manned first base more often than the mound in two years at the NAIA program before transferring to Lander to give it a go as a full-time pitcher.

Bowen and Cortese became teammates for two years at the university that enrolled 4,423 students this past fall. They took strides in 2025 as the Bearcats found success, going 43-15 with a Peach Belt Conference championship and an appearance in the Division II Southeast Regional.

Bowen had a 3.90 ERA in 22 appearances with 51 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. Cortese posted a 5.17 ERA in 13 games, but he finished on a strong note with one run allowed in his last eight appearances and four scoreless outings to close out the year. The special season culminated in an almost unbelievable moment this week when the “bulllpen buddies,” as Burke called them, were chosen by the same team.

“It’s just a really neat bond between the two of them,” Burke said. “They both took off in the same year. You could see it coming from both of them. The stuff had always been pretty good. Both of their stuff upticked. They both pushed each other. They both helped each other.”

Seeing Bowen and Cortese get drafted held significance for Burke as the leader of the Lander program. Burke played for the Bearcats in 2001 and 2002, shortly after the varsity team began competition in 1998. He was hired to coach at Lander in 2016 after years as an assistant at Wofford College and Gardner-Webb University.

There have now been 13 Lander players taken in the history of the MLB draft. Funny enough, the Marlins did draft two Lander players in the 2016 draft shortly before Burke took over (Colby Lusigan, 28th round and Zach Daly, 37th round). But it was just as momentous the second time around.

“To be able to watch those guys grow and get better, then to live out a childhood dream to get your name called in the draft and, shoot, to get it with one of your teammates, it makes it even cooler,” Burke said.

Given their backgrounds, it probably seemed unlikely for either Bowen or Cortese to make it to professional baseball, at least at certain points. Now, they could soon be teammates once again in the Phillies’ minor-league system.

“Luckily, the stars aligned and we got both of them,” Jersild said. “So it was a great day. I was thrilled — thrilled to get both of those kids in our system.”