Temple University Athletics
DOUBLEHEADER SPLIT GAINS OWLS FINAL PLAYOFF SPOT
5.11.02 | Baseball
The Owls will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed and will play on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. against either Dayton, Xavier or Duquesne.
After the Hawks scored a run in the opening frame of the first game of the doubleheader, the Owls came back with single runs in the first three frames. In the opening inning, the Owls pushed a run across as Fred Hilliard (Upper Darby, Pa/Upper Darby) singled and stole second. A sacrifice bunt by Joe Lyall (Levittown, Pa/Harry Truman) advanced Hilliard to third with one out and he scored on a sacrifice fly by John Quigley (Bensalem, Pa/Benasalem).
The Owls scored an unearned run in the second and followed that up with a run in the home third on a two-out home run by John Quigley.
Meanwhile, starter and eventual winner Brandon Bruno (5-6) flirted with trouble in the second and third innings but got out of the innings without being scored on.
The Hawks would get a run off Bruno in the sixth but things could have been worse. Bill McCollum led off with a single to center and Justin Godusky followed with what looked a triple to right center, but a strong relay throw from second baseman Fred Hilliard to third baseman Mike Weckenman (Newtown, Pa/Council Rock) nailed Godusky. The Hawks would put two men on with two out in the inning but Bruno retired Jim Kelly on a popout to shortstop to end the threat.
Mike Caron came on to pick up his first save of the season retiring the Hawks in order after a leadoff single.
In the second game, the Hawks scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning and put up a four spot in the sixth inning against starter and loser Matt Powell (6-6) to game a split in the doubleheader. The Owls managed just three hits against starter and winner Bill McCollum (5-4) and reliever Bill Erik Holman).
