Temple University Athletics
Winning Ways Continue In Baseball's 13-2 Win At Saint Joseph's
3.28.08 | Baseball
March 28, 2008
NORRISTOWN, PA - Freshman Ben White struck out 11 batters in six scoreless innings of relief and juniors Carmen Del Mastro and Jamie Abercrombie each had three hits to lead Temple to a 13-2 win over Saint Joseph's at Latshaw-McCarthy Field on Friday. The Owls won for the seventh time in their last eight outings and are off to their best start in conference play (4-0) since 2001.
White (1-0) was dominant out of the bullpen, picking up his first collegiate victory with a career-high 11 strikeouts. The 11 whiffs are the most by a Temple pitcher since senior Tom Dolan struck out 16 on April 8, 2007 at Dayton. The rookie walked two and allowed four hits in his longest collegiate outing.
"It was a great win to get off to a good start this weekend," head coach Rob Valli said. "Ben did a tremendous job today. He threw the ball the extremely well and I think we saw the real Ben White today."
His biggest two strikeouts came to close the fifth and sixth innings. Trailing 5-2, the Hawks had loaded the bases with two outs but White struck out David Valesente swinging on a 2-2 pitch. An inning later, SJU loaded the bases once again but fanned Chris Hildreth on a 1-2 pitch. Of White's final 13outs, 10 came via the strikeout.
"I usually get stronger as the game goes on," White said. "Today I felt a lot more comfortable out there and the defense was great behind me."
The Parkesburg, PA native was pressed into extended duty after Dolan left the game with tightness in his arm in the second inning. Sophomore Matt Blackburn pitched through the third before giving way to White.
Offensively, Temple (12-8) got the bats going after scoring just once in a 2-1 loss at Monmouth on Wednesday. The Owls collected 11 hits with five going for extra bases. Junior Sean Barksdale launched his first collegiate grand slam over the 383 foot sign in left center as part of a six-run seventh inning. All six runs in the inning came with two outs.
Del Mastro started off the four-run second inning with a double and along with Abercrombie, scored on senior Stan Orzechowski's double. After a Barksdale walk, sophomore Matt Heltz had his second straight single to plate Orzechowski. Barksdale then scored when junior Mark Ortega reached on an error to give the visitors a 4-0 lead.
Heltz drove in his second run of the game in the fifth on a groundout to make it 5-2 and Temple pushed across two more runs in the seventh. Senior Mike Kelch led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on Del Mastro's infield single. Abercrombie followed with a single to score Kelch and Del Mastro scored from second when the SJU second baseman couldn't handle the ground ball.
Del Mastro and Abercrombie also were involved in the six-run seventh. Del Mastro had an RBI double after a two-out hit by pitch give the Owls new life. Abercrombie followed with a RBI single to make it 9-2 and two walks loaded the bases for Barksdale, who crushed a 1-0 offering deep to left for his second home run of the week.
Heltz and Orzechowski also had two hits for Temple.
Ben Wendle had two doubles and a single for Saint Joseph's (8-15, 1-3 A-10). Dominic Favazza (1-2) suffered the loss after allowing five earned runs in four innings.
Combined with last weekend's sweep of Rhode Island, Temple is now 4-0 in Atlantic 10 play for the first time since 2001. That season, the Owls recovered from a 0-14 start to win the A-10 and advance to the NCAA Tournament. The best A-10 start came in 1984 when TU started 7-0 in the conference on its way to an A-10 title and NCAA appearance.
TU's 12-8 record is the best after 20 games since the 2004 team started 14-6.
The series resumes on Saturday at 1 PM.
NOTES: Temple owns a 105-42-2 record against Saint Joseph's in the series which started in 1928. The Hawks are the most frequently played opponent in program history...The Owls are 2-0 against Big 5 teams this season and 3-0 against teams from Pennsylvania...Barksdale has a team high eight two-out RBI...The 13 runs are a season-high and the most since a 13-11 win in 11 innings at St. Bonaventure on May 19, 2007...The Owls have scored 22 runs in the seventh inning this season, the most of any inning.
