Lowder went to North Stanly High School located New London, North Carolina, where he played baseball. During his sophomore season in 2018, he pitched a 9–2 record and with a 1.03 ERA.[1] As a junior in 2019, he went 9–0 with a 0.61 ERA, 115 strikeouts, and seven walks over 68.1 innings.[2] His senior season in 2020 was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he was unselected in the shortened 2020 Major League Baseball draft, leading to him enrolling at Wake Forest University to play college baseball.
During his freshman season at Wake Forest in 2021, Lowder appeared in 14 games (making 12 starts) in which he went 4–2 with a 6.12 ERA, 78 strikeouts, and 14 home runs allowed over 67.2 innings.[3] That summer, he played for the Strasburg Express of the Valley Baseball League.[4] As a sophomore in 2022, Lowder started 16 games and pitched to an 11–3 record with a 3.08 ERA, 105 strikeouts and 26 walks over 99.1 innings.[5] He was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first ever player from Wake Forest to win the award.[6] Following the season's end, he was named to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team .[7]
In 2023, Lowder went 15–0, leading NCAA Division I in wins, and also finished in the top 10 nationally in ERA (1.87), strikeouts (a school-record 143), and WHIP (0.95), playing a key role in the Deacons' run to the Men's College World Series. Lowder repeated as the ACC Pitcher of the Year, and was also a consensus first-team All-American, the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the men's ACC Athlete of the Year across all sports, sharing the last of these honors with women's winner Katelyn TuohyofNC State cross country and track.[8][9]
The Cincinnati Reds selected Lowder in the first round, with the seventh overall selection, of the 2023 MLB draft. On July 14, 2023, Lowder signed with the Reds for an under slot deal worth $5.7 million.[10]
