Aurora University baseball alum Chris Roycorft '19 made his Major League Baseball debut on Tuesday, May 7 for the St. Louis Cardinals against the New York Mets.

Roycroft came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning and pitched one inning, striking out two (Franciso Lindor and Harrison Bader) while allowing two hits including a home run to Pete Alonso. His appearance makes him the first Aurora University Spartan baseball player to ever appear in an MLB game. 

In four season as a Spartan, Roycroft had a 17-3 record and eight saves with a 3.33 earned run average. In 181 innings pitched he struck out 184 and opponents hit .225 against. He was a three-time (2017, 2018 and 2019) Second-Team All-Conference in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conferemce.

After finishing his AU career, Roycroft pitched for the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League in 2021 and 2022 before signing with the Cardinals midway through the 2022 season.