Temple University Athletics
Mongiardini Leads Owls To 5-2 Victory Over Old Dominion
3.1.08 | Baseball
March 1, 2008
NORFOLK, VA - Junior Matt Mongiardini surrendered just three hits in seven shutout innings to lead Temple over Old Dominion, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon at the Bud Metheny Complex. Mongiardini struck out four batters and walked two in his best collegiate outing.
"Matt pitched great for us today," head coach Rob Valli said. "He commanded the zone with his fastball on both sides of the plate and mixed his off-speed pitches effectively."
The Monarchs, who were ranked #25 one week ago by Baseball America, could not solve Mongiardini. The right-hander stranded runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings, but his biggest out may have came in the seventh.
He hit two batters and walked another to load the bases with two outs. But senior Stan Orzechowski tracked down a long fly-ball in right-center to end the frame.
"Stan came up with a big play to track the fly ball down," Mongiardini said. Opponents are now batting just .125 against Mongiardini in 13 innings this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
"I knew that if I just threw strikes, I'd be okay" Mongiardini said. "My defense came up big for me today."
Temple managed only six hits off ODU All-American Anthony Shawler, but the base knocks came at the right time. The Owls (2-3) scored two runs in the fourth on an RBI single by junior Sean Barksdale and an RBI double by sophomore Matt Heltz to take a 2-0 lead.
In the seventh, TU added two runs on just one hit. Senior Mike Kelch led off with a towering-pop up down the leftfield line that the gusty wind blew back into fair ground for a single. Junior Carmen Del Mastro sacrificed him to second, but junior Mark Ortega was hit by a pitch and junior Jamie Abercrombie walked to load the bases.
Junior Kyle Obal grounded to short in what looked like a Taylor-made double-play, but the catcher legged out the fielder's choice to drive in the run and keep the inning alive. With runners on first and third, Obal stole second and Ortega then scored on the throw to make it 4-0.
Del Mastro walked to lead off the ninth, stole second and moved to third when the ball got by the Monarch catcher. Ortega then drove him in with a long sacrifice fly to left to give the Owls some insurance and a 5-0 lead.
Senior Arshwin Asjes relieved Mongiardini in the eighth. He pitched a shutout inning but ran into trouble in the ninth. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Joe Velleggia doubled and Christopher Baker lined a ball into centerfield. Orzechowski tracked it down, but lost the ball in the sun at the last moment, allowing Velleggia to cross the plate. Jimmy Miles (two hits) then drove in Baker to make it 5-2, but Asjes induced a groundout to Heltz to finish the game.
Barksdale had two hits to lead the Temple offense.
Shawler (1-1) struck out 10 in eight innings, but allowed four runs to suffer the loss for ODU (3-3). Bryan Cipolla had two doubles for the Monarchs.
The series concludes on Sunday at 1 PM with Temple's Mike Mongiardini to oppose Old Dominion's Ryan Bergh.
