Temple University Athletics
Owls Salvage Split With Long Island
3.15.08 | Baseball
March 15, 2008
Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
AMBLER, PA - Junior Matt Mongiardini allowed one earned run in five innings to win his third straight game as Temple salvaged a doubleheader split with Long Island by winning the nightcap, 8-2. The Owls dropped the opener 11-7. Sunday's game in the Villanova Baseball Bash has been cancelled due to impending bad weather.
Senior Stan Orzechowski had four hits and drove in three on the day. Four more Owls had at least three hits in the doubleheader.
After giving Long Island (1-11) its first win in the opener, Mongiardini gave the Owls a much-needed performance in the nightcap. The righthander scattered five hits in his five innings of work and improved to 3-0 with the victory. His ERA is a miniscule 1.61, which is nearly identical to the batting average that opponents have compiled against him (.160).
The Temple (6-7) bullpen was also impressive, as sophomore Matt Blackburn twirled three scoreless innings, retiring nine straight batters and striking out two. Senior Arshwin Asjes pitched the ninth, allowing only an unearned run.
Offensively, the Owls scored five runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead and never looked back. Junior Sean Barksdale doubled home a first-inning run to put TU ahead 1-0 and in the third, his walk loaded the bases with no outs.
Senior Mike Kelch singled to right to knock in a run and junior Kyle Obal lofted a sacrifice fly to short centerfield that appeared to be too short for junior Mark Ortega to tag.
But Long Island had a mental lapse and left home plate uncovered, allowing Ortega to scamper home with the run. Obal was credited with a sacrifice fly.
A RBI double by freshman Steve Nikorak scored Kelch and classmate Ben Flanary drove in his first collegiate run two batters later. When the dust had settled, Temple batted around and had a comfortable 6-1 lead with its ace on the mound.
TU added a run in the fourth on a Ortega single and another in the fifth on Flanary's sacrifice fly.
Eight Owls had at least one hit in the second game, led by Orzechowski's three.
Jesse Johnson (0-2) was tagged with the loss for Long Island after surrendering seven earned runs in 3.1 innings.
In the opener, Temple led 7-5 after six inning but LIU scored the game's final four runs for an 11-7 victory. Poor fielding continued to plague the Owls, who committed five errors in the contest, leading to three unearned runs.
Orzechowski had a three-run triple in the second to make the score 4-2, but the Blackbirds answered with three runs in the middle frames to take a 5-4 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth. Five consecutive Temple hits, including RBI singles by Ortega and Obal and a RBI triple by Nikorak, gave the hosts a 7-5 lead.
LIU took the lead on a RBI double by Chris Kievit as part of a three-run seventh inning. The visitors would add three more insurance runs in their final two at-bats and John Masklee pitched the final three innings for the save. Andy Yawger (1-2) picked up the victory with 0.2 innings of relief.
Freshman Jordan Cannon suffered the loss for the Owls, allowing three earned runs in 1.1 innings. He falls to 1-1.
Senior Mike Mongiardini gave the Cherry and White a solid start, going 4.2 innings and allowing three hits and two earned runs before reaching his pitch count.
Temple continues its five-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Lehigh at 3 PM. The game will not be broadcast on OwlAccess due to a women's lacrosse conflict, but it can be followed on CSTV's GameTracker. Wednesday's home game against Penn will be streamed live on OwlAccess beginning at 3 PM.
