Temple University Athletics
Diamond Owls Off To Best A-10 Start Since 1984 With Doubleheader Sweep Of La Salle
3.27.09 | Baseball
March 27, 2009
Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
AMBLER, PA - Temple continued its best start in Atlantic 10 play since 1984 by sweeping La Salle in a Friday doubleheader at Skip Wilson Field. The Owls, who are 5-0 in the league and a half-game ahead of Dayton for first place, beat the Explorers, 11-9, in the opener and 5-2 in the nightcap. Senior Carmen Del Mastro continued his torrid hitting with six hits on the day and preserved the game one victory with a diving stop for the final out.
The Cherry and White (10-11, 5-0 A-10) have opened conference play twice (2001, 2008) with four straight wins but it has been 25 years since the Owls had a better streak to open the league slate. The 1984 team, led by future major leaguers John Marzano and Jeff Manto, won its first seven games in the A-10 before finishing with a 9-2 record (33-14 overall).
Del Mastro, who is now batting .437, had four singles in game one and added two more in game two. The second baseman scored three runs, stole two bases and had two RBI to help Temple to its eighth win in the last ten games.
Although he made several impressive defensive plays throughout the afternoon, none was bigger than his diving stop in the ninth inning of game one. La Salle (9-12, 0-5), who trailed 11-4 heading into the ninth, was in the midst of a five-run inning and had runners on first and third with two outs.
Head coach Rob Valli went to the bullpen to call on junior Matt Blackburn to face the Explorers' number three hitter, John Malloy, who came into the game batting .370. Malloy lined a sharp groundball up the middle, but Del Mastro made a diving stop and flipped to senior Mark Ortega at second to end the game.
Temple scored nine runs early and led 9-2 after three innings. Sophomore Byron McKoy had a sacrifice fly in the first to tie the game at 1-1 before TU exploded for five runs in the second. Ortega led off with a double and senior Lenny DelGrippo followed with a single to open the frame.
Freshman Jabair Khan then scored Ortega on a sacrifice bunt and senior Jamie Abercrombie followed with a single. Del Mastro and senior Sean Barksdale continued the rally with a RBI single and double, respectively, and senior Kyle Obal added another run on a fielder's choice. Junior Tony Jusino completed the scoring with a RBI single.
The Owls weren't finished scoring, as Khan and Del Mastro had RBI singles in the third and Barksdale added a sacrifice fly to make it 9-2.
La Salle added single runs in the fifth and seventh to make it 9-4 before the Owls added two insurance runs on Barksdale double in the eighth. They would prove to be needed when the Explorers rallied in the ninth.
Brian Meagher's three-run homer provided most of the damage in the inning but Blackburn induced Malloy's groundball for his second save of the season.
Sophomore Ben White earned his second win of the season by allowing three earned runs in seven innings. He struck out four batters.
Barksdale had a pair of doubles and drove in four. He is now ninth on the all-time RBI list with 126. DelGrippo also had a pair of hits for the Owls. Abercrombie tied former major leaguer John Marzano for seventh on the all-time hit list with 190.
Drew Gerhart (1-2) suffered the loss for La Salle, allowing six earned runs in 1.1 innings.
In the nightcap, Temple received a stellar outing from freshman Dan Moller and had timely hitting to complete the doubleheader sweep. The southpaw allowed two earned runs in 7.1 innings to win for his second straight outing. He struck out five batters and walked just two.
DelGrippo's two-out, two-run double put the Owls up 2-0 in the second and a three-base error in the La Salle outfield allowed Abercrombie to score on a Del Mastro single in the second.
McKoy hit a solo home run to left to lead off the sixth to make it 4-0. La Salle answered with a two-run single by Justin Handler to cut the lead to 4-2 in the seventh, but a Temple insurance run in the eighth on Ortega's fielder's choice extended the lead to 5-2.
Sophomore Jordan Cannon pitched the final five outs for his second save of the season. He has not allowed an earned run in his past 12.2 innings.
Del Mastro, Obal and McKoy each had two hits in the nightcap.
The two teams will complete the series on Saturday at 1 PM.
