Temple University Athletics
Brady Has Memorable Senior Day In 14-9 Loss To Villanova
5.15.07 | Baseball
May 15, 2007
Box Score | Coach Valli Audio | Brady Audio
AMBLER, PA - Senior Dan Brady launched a pair of two-run homeruns on "Senior Day" but the Owls dropped their final home game of the season to Villanova, 14-9, on Tuesday at Skip Wilson Field. Brady, who along with classmate Rob Licata was honored in a pre-game ceremony, has now homered for his past three hits dating back to Saturday's game at Duquesne. Temple wrapped up its home schedule with a 9-6 mark, setting a record for most wins and best winning percentage in four seasons at Skip Wilson Field.
"Today was real important to me with my friends and family here," Brady said. "I had a lot of good times here and wanted to end it on a strong note."
"We're real happy for Dan Brady that he was able to play real well in his last home game," head coach Rob Valli said. "We'll miss Dan and Rob (Licata), who were two great leaders for our program."
Sophomore Sean Barksdale had three hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs. He now has 50 RBI for the season, good for ninth on the all-time list, tying him with former major-leaguer Bobby Higginson. Juniors Ryan Weber and Stan Orzechowski both broke the single season at-bats record by surpassing Jim Tully and Bob Filler, who had 216 at-bats in 2001.
Temple drew within one with five runs in the third, but would not get any closer. Five straight hits, capped by Brady's first round-tripper of the day, got the Owls on the board for the first time. Weber had a RBI double, and Barksdale's two-run triple to center accounted three runs.
Villanova (27-21) answered back with five runs in the fourth and never looked back to take the season series with TU. The Cherry and White scored two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make it 12-9 but the Wildcats added some insurance runs in their final at-bat to preserve the win.
In the fifth, junior Mike Kelch tripled to lead off the inning and scored on sophomore Jamie Abercrombie's double. He later scored on freshman Matt Heltz's single to right. Brady's second home run of the day, and team-leading eighth of the season, drove in two in the sixth.
Temple ripped 15 hits and has now reached double-digits in base knocks for 14 of the past 16 games. Unfortunately, the team has allowed double-digit runs in its past five games and has lost eight straight.
"We're learning some hard lessons," Valli said. "Our guys are a little out of gas, like most freshmen around the country. I look forward to these mid-week games next year when our freshmen have had a year to develop."
Freshman starter Kyle Monahan suffered the loss after allowing two earned runs in one inning of work. He falls to 2-5. Kevin Crimmel (1-1) earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief with two earned runs.
Freshman Matt Blackburn tied the Temple single season record for appearances with 25. Mike Wieczorek also appeared in 25 games in 1991. Monahan is close behind with 24 appearances.
Dan Terpak had four hits and four RBI and Wesley Borden was 3-for-3 with four RBI and a home run.
The Owls (17-35) visits St. Bonaventure in its final series of the season beginning on Thursday. First pitch is set for 3 PM.
