Temple University Athletics
OWLS SNAP SKID, SPLIT WITH RHODE ISLAND
4.16.05 | Baseball
AMBLER, PA -- Timely hitting against one of the conference's top hurlers helped the Temple baseball team snap an 11-game losing skid with a 5-3 victory over Rhode Island in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Cherry and White day. Senior Mike Weckenman settled down after allowing three runs in the first two innings for the complete game win. With a handful of scouts in attendance for URI southpaw Zach Zuercher, the reigning A-10 pitcher of the year, the Owls received two-run homeruns from sophomore Dan Brady and senior Jason Connor to account for all but one of their five runs. The Rams won game one, 4-2.
The nightcap did not start well for the hosts, as URI tallied three runs in the first two innings off Weckenman. Zuercher retired the first four batters, but after senior Pete Colon legged out an infield single, Brady crushed fastball over the leftfield fence for his first collegiate homerun to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The Owls (8-19, 1-7 A-10) took the lead for good in the third when Connor blasted his third dinger of the season down the line in leftfield and added an insurance run in the fifth as a freshman Devon Swope infield single plated Colon, who had doubled.
Weckenman (1-1) began to find his groove, tossing five more shutout innings, and did not allow a runner past second base. He picked up his first collegiate win and struck out three without walking a single batter. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for URI (14-15, 8-3 A-10).
Along with junior Tim Foulkrod, who started game one, the Temple pitching staff stifled a Ram offense that had scored 68 runs in its last five games. Colon and Swope both had a pair of hits for TU in the nightcap. Zuercher falls to 2-3 despite striking out seven in six innings.
Foulkrod (3-4) allowed just two earned runs in seven innings, but was saddled with the loss as the Owl offense could not get on track in a 4-2 opening game defeat. Rhode Island scored an unearned run in the first and added two more in the second on a Joe Viscuso triple to take a 3-0 lead.
Temple plated single runs in the fourth and fifth innings but would come no closer. Colon had an RBI groundout to score senior Harry Ley, who doubled to lead off the inning in the fourth. In the next frame, junior Marc Wagner blasted his first homerun of the season to leftfield to make the score 3-2, URI. The Rams added an unearned run in the seventh to close the scoring.
Ley remained hot for the Cherry and White with a two-hit performance. The transfer from Drexel is batting .444 in his first five games in a Temple uniform.
Dan Frederick tossed the first four innings for the Rams, scattering six hits and striking out four. Tom Venedam (2-2) pitched two perfect innings of relief for the win and Mick Lefort picked up his seven save of the season by recording the last two outs.
The two teams will finish their three-game series on Sunday at noon.
Photos courtesy of Greg Carroccio, Sideline Photos. To purchase action photos from today's game, please visit www.sidephotos.com.
