Temple University Athletics
Baseball Wins Fourth Straight With 9-6 Victory At Rhode Island
3.22.08 | Baseball
March 22, 2008
KINGSTON, RI - Temple scored seven runs in the fourth inning and won for the fourth straight game with a 9-6 victory over Rhode Island on Saturday at Bill Beck Field. Junior Kyle Obal had four hits and two RBI, while freshman Byron McKoy was a triple away from the cycle and had three hits. Junior Matt Mongiardini improved to 4-0 with six innings on the mound and senior Arshwin Asjes pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save.
With the first four Owls (9-7, 2-0 A-10) in the starting lineup combining for just one hit, it was McKoy and Obal who stepped up. McKoy, who is 5-for-9 in his past two games since returning from injury, launched his second home run of the season in the seventh. Obal hit safely in his final four at-bats, which included a bunt single, and knocked in two runs.
Mongiardini scattered 10 hits over six innings and allowed four earned runs. The righthander only surrendered two runs through six, but tired in the seventh. He won his fourth straight decision and has not lost in his past eight starts dating back to last season.
Rhode Island (6-11, 0-2) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, but Temple exploded for a seven-spot in its next at-bat. The Owls sent 12 batters to the plate, with nine straight reaching base at one point. Senior Mike Kelch got things started when he was hit by a pitch with one out. McKoy singled and sophomore Matt Heltz walked to load the bases.
Obal then ripped a two-run single to left and junior Carmen Del Mastro walked to re-load the bases. Junior Jamie Abercrombie walked in a run, and senior Stan Orzechowski reached on an error by the URI shortstop, which also plated two runs. Junior Sean Barksdale finished things off with an RBI single to make it 7-1.
Heltz led off the fifth with a double and scored on Abercrombie's double-play groundout that extended the TU lead to 8-1. Rhode Island continued to chip away, scoring one in the sixth, two in the seventh and two in the eight as McKoy's solo dinger was Temple's only offense late.
Asjes shut the door in the ninth for his team-leading third save. He lowered his ERA to 0.90.
Eric Smith (0-3) suffered the loss for URI, giving up six earned runs in 3.1 innings. Zach Zaneski had three hits for the Rams.
The series concludes at noon on Sunday at Bill Beck Field. Senior Mike Mongiardini will take on Nick Greenwood on the mound.
NOTES: Orzechowski had his nine-game hitting streak snapped, but he did reach base twice, extending his on-base streak to 10 games. Temple is 7-3 during that span...The Owls are 8-0 when leading after seven innings...The four-game winning streak is the longest since the team won five-straight from May 11-17, 2005...The Cherry and White last took a series from Rhode Island on May 4-5, 2002 when it took two of three. The last three-game sweep of the Rams came in 1994.
