Temple University Athletics
NINTH INNING RALLY SPOILS McCAFFERTY'S GEM IN 3-2 LOSS TO UMASS
5.8.05 | Baseball
AMBLER, PA -- Sophomore Chris McCafferty was brilliant on the mound for 8.2 shutout innings, scattering four hits and striking out six. It was that pesky last out that gave the right-hander and the Owls trouble. Massachusetts scored three unearned runs with two outs in the ninth inning to notch a 3-2 come-from-behind victory on Sunday at Ambler Field.
Leading 1-0, McCafferty sandwiched a Bryan Adamski single with two outs and looked to be ready to finish off the complete game shutout. Adamski stole second and then scored as a Temple error kept the game alive. Travis Munsey then lined a single just out of the reach of a diving Justin Cooper. Nine-hitter Anthony Santos delivered the big blow, a two-run single to right-center that gave the Minutemen (11-30, 5-13 A-10) a 3-1 lead.
The Owls (11-30, 4-14) refused to give up. Senior Jason Connor tripled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and scored on a senior Mike Weckenman single. After a strikeout, Weckenman moved to second on a wild pitch and sophomore Dan Brady walked to give TU first and second with one out.
Senior Matt Lafferty, who had singled and tripled earlier, hit a hard groundball back to the pitcher, who knocked it down and turned the 1-4-3 double-play to end the game.
The Cherry and White scored in the fourth on a Lafferty RBI-single to plate Connor (2-for-4). It was the eighth one-run defeat of the season for Temple, which has lost a total of 13 games by two runs or less.
McCafferty (2-7) threw a complete game and did not allow an earned run, but dropped to 2-7 on the season. Keith Doherty (2-5) struck out seven batters for the Minutemen and allowed two earned runs in eight innings. David Sullivan picked up his first save of the season by throwing one inning of shutout relief.
Temple returns to action on Tuesday at Delaware at 3 p.m.
