Temple University Athletics
Defense Fails Owls In Liberty Bell Classic Semifinals
4.3.07 | Baseball
April 3, 2007
BETHLEHEM, PA - Lehigh scored 10 runs in the first inning, nine of which were unearned, and never looked back in handing Temple a 14-4 loss in the Liberty Bell Classic semifinals on Tuesday on the Goodman Campus. The Mountain Hawks took advantage of three errors, three walks, two wild pitches and a hit batter to jump out to the early cushion. Lehigh advances to next Tuesday's championship game at Citizens Bank Park against Lafayette, a 10-2 winner over Penn.
Mountain Hawks (11-12-1) lead-off batter Joe Ercolano reached base on a catcher's interference to open the first and it was all downhill from there for the Cherry and White. After a single, Temple could not successfully handle a sacrifice bunt which loaded the bases with nobody out. A sacrifice fly by Matt Reitz scored the only earned run of the inning. The next seven batters all scored unearned runs to chase freshman starter Rob Chamra.
He was replaced by classmate Mike Click. After giving up a single, he induced what looked to be an inning ending double-play groundball. It was mishandled and the hosts took advantage by adding another two runs.
"It was an extremely difficult loss, difficult in the way that we gave them 10 runs in the first inning," head coach Rob Valli said. "We could have easily been out of the inning with only giving up two runs."
Lehigh added three runs in the third, thanks to two more Owl miscues, and added a solo homer in the seventh to complete its scoring.
The Owls (8-16), who out-hit the Mountain Hawks 10-9, did not cross the plate until scoring four unearned runs in the eighth. Junior Stan Orzechowski and freshman Matt Heltz reached base via errors to put runners on first and third with one out. Junior pinch-hitter Tom Dolan then hit a two-run single and moved to third on sophomore Sean Barksdale's double to left. Dolan later scored on a wild pitch and Barksdale came around on a junior Mike Kelch sacrifice fly.
The day was not without some silver linings for the Owls. Junior Eric Fritz pitched three shutout innings of relief and surrendered just a single hit. He has not allowed a run in his last 6.2 innings. Freshman Ryan Thomas pitched well in his inning of work, despite giving up a solo homerun, and junior DaShone Kirkendoll made his first appearance since joining the team following the men's basketball season. He pitched a scoreless eighth for TU.
Orzechowski, Barksdale and Kelch all had multiple hits for Temple. Chamra (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing nine runs, but only one earned, in 0.1 innings.
Nick Bet had a pair of hits and three RBI for the Mountain Hawks. Joe Matteo (1-3) pitched four innings of shutout baseball for the victory.
Lehigh returns to the Liberty Bell Classic Championship game for the third time in four years, while Lafayette is making its second straight appearance at Citizens Bank Park.
The Owls are idle until Friday's series-opener at Dayton. First pitch is set for noon.
