Temple University Athletics
NO MORAL VICTORIES IN BASEBALL'S 4-1 LOSS AT #15 LSU
2.24.06 | Baseball
BATON ROUGE, LA-- New Temple head coach Rob Valli doesn't believe in moral victories. But the Owls certainly can take away some positives from the season opening 4-1 loss to #15 LSU at Alex Box Stadium on Friday night. Sophomore Frank Nunan went 3-for-3 with a double and the Temple pitching staff of senior Tim Foulkrod and sophomore Eric Fritz combined to scatter eight hits and strike out six.
On an unseasonably cool night in Baton Rouge, the Cherry and White (0-1) put its best foot forward against the nationally-ranked Tigers (8-1). Foulkrod, throwing on a pitch count, tossed five innings and allowed four earned runs and struck out four. All four runs came in the second frame, three of which on a bases-clearing triple from Bruce Sprowl.
Fritz relieved Foulkrod (0-1) in the sixth and threw three shutout innings. The sophomore stranded Tigers on second in two straight innings and struck out a pair of LSU batters.
Nunan, who reached base all four plate appearances, doubled to right-center in the first in his first at-bat. He then bunted down the third-base line for a hit, was hit by a pitch, and singled up the middle.
"I was just going up there being aggressive. Coach has been preaching that type of approach since day one," Nunan said. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime to play in this type of atmosphere."
The Broomall, Pa. native scored the Owls only run in the fourth. After leading off the inning with a bunt single, junior Nick Fasano doubled to right to put the visitors on the board. Senior Marc Wagner had TU's fifth and final hit, a single through the left-side in the seventh inning.
The rest of the Temple lineup couldn't solve LSU lefty Clay Dirks (2-0). The third-team All-American in 2004 fanned a career-high 12 batters in the complete-game victory.
LSU scored all four runs in the second. Foulkrod hit Jordan Mayor to lead off the inning and Matt Liuzza followed with a double. After a walk to Will Harris, J.T. Wise singled home Mayor for the game's first run. Sprowl then came up clutch with a two-out triple to center that cleared the bases and gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.
"There's no moral victories here, Nunan said. "Our pitchers threw real well tonight and offensively we just need to be a little more aggressive at the plate."
Sophomore Arshwin Asjes will face Derik Olvey (2-0, 0.59 ERA) tomorrow at noon (1:00 p.m EST). The game will be broadcast live on Yahoo! Sports.
