Temple University Athletics
LATE RALLY DOOMS TEMPLE FOR THIRD STRAIGHT GAME
3.21.06 | Baseball
PHILADELPHIA -- For the third consecutive game, the Temple baseball team watched as a late-inning comeback spoiled a chance at victory. This time, it came at the hands of city-rival La Salle in the first round of the Liberty Bell Classic at Hank DeVincent Field. The Explorers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning to hand Temple a 5-4 loss on Tuesday afternoon.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the eighth inning, the Owls (5-11) received singles from freshman Pat Riley and sophomore Frank Nunan to open the inning. Junior Dan Brady then singled home Riley to tie the score at 4-4. With runners on the corners and still no outs, it looked like TU would take the lead, but La Salle's Gerard Breslin struck out the side to kill the rally.
The Explorers (4-13) answered back in the bottom half of the frame, but only with the help of the Temple defense. The first two runners reached base on errors and the eventual game-winner scored on a sacrifice-fly by Dennis Burge. Senior Justin Mendek suffered the loss, despite not giving up an earned run in the eighth.
Two promising southpaws started for each team on the hill, with both coming off impressive starts. Temple's Tom Dolan, who was named the Atlantic 10 and ECAC Pitcher of the Week on Monday, battled La Salle's Dan Waters, who picked up Diamond Five Pitcher of the Week honors. Neither hurler earned a decision, but both posted solid numbers. Dolan went six innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out five, while Waters fanned nine in 5.1 innings pitched.
The Cherry and White scored three runs in the sixth to chase Waters. An RBI-single by Nunan plated freshman Casey Sellen, who had singled, and Brady knocked a run in on his mishandled grounder to third. Freshman Lenny DelGrippo had a RBI-single to put Temple ahead 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
La Salle scored a pair of runs in the sixth to retake the lead. Breslin (1-1) struck out six in 3.2 innings to earn the win.
TU had 11 hits with five players having multiple safeties, including Sellen, Riley, Nunan and DelGrippo. Freshman Jamie Abercrombie extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-5 performance.
The Owls host St. John's on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Live statistics will be available via GameTracker.
