Temple University Athletics
Owls Drop Slugfest To Dukes, 21-17
5.12.07 | Baseball
May 12, 2007
PITTSBURGH, PA - Temple scored 17 runs on 19 hits but came up short in a wild slugfest on Saturday afternoon, falling to Duquesne, 21-17. The 38 runs between the two teams were the most in a game since the Owls beat Xavier, 29-12, on March 24, 2001. Junior Ryan Weber had four hits and now has 79 for the season, moving him into a tie for third on the single season list with Joe Kerrigan, Jr.
For the second straight day, all nine Owl starters had at least one hit. Sophomore Sean Barksdale had two doubles, a single and knocked in five runs. Sophomore Carmen Del Mastro had a two-run double as a part of his two safeties, and freshman Matt Heltz also had two hits and two RBI.
The marathon game lasted nearly four hours and the teams combined to use 10 pitchers. The 17 Temple runs were the most scored in a losing effort in the program's history and the 38 runs combined are the second most ever put up by two teams.
The Owls (17-33, 8-15 A-10) scored three or more runs in five innings. The Cherry and White plated four in the second to take a 4-0 lead and made it 7-3 with three more in the fourth with Barksdale's two-run double providing most of the damage.
After a Duke run cut the deficit to 7-4, Temple added another three runs on a junior Stan Orzechowski RBI double and Weber's RBI single to bring the lead to 10-4. Orzechowski's double was his 18th of the season, moving him into a tie for third on the single season list.
The wheels started to come off when Duquesne scored three in the fifth, but the Dukes broke it open with a 10-spot in the sixth. The Owls used three pitchers in the inning and Derek Mechling's grand slam, his second dinger of the game, seemingly put the game out of reach at 17-10, DU.
After a scoreless seventh inning for both teams for the first time since the first, Temple exploded for four runs in the eighth. Sophomore Jamie Abercrombie nearly missed a grand slam when his long fly to left was snagged by a leaping Brian Bernardo and settled for a sacrifice fly. Del Mastro lined a two-run double to make it 17-14.
Duquesne scored four insurance runs in the eighth, which at the time, appeared to be unnecessary. But Temple battled back, using a senior Dan Brady home run to score three in its final at-bat. But the come-back came up short, handing TU its sixth straight loss.
Sophomore Kyle Monahan suffered the loss after allowing seven earned runs in 1.1 innings. He drops to 2-4. Michael Dukovich (2-1) earned the win with three scoreless innings.
Mechling drove in six runs for the Dukes (21-25, 9-14 A-10), while Eric Morrison had three doubles, a home run and knocked in five runs.
The series concludes on Sunday at noon.
