Temple University Athletics
Eighth-Inning Single Dooms Temple In 7-6 Loss At Villanova
4.28.09 | Baseball
April 28, 2009
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA - Villanova's Matt Szczur lined a two-out single just over a leaping Mark Ortega in the eighth inning to break a tie game and give the Wildcats a 7-6 victory over Temple on Tuesday afternoon. Seniors Lenny DelGrippo and Sean Barksdale had three hits each for the Owls.
With the game tied at 6-6, Villanova led off the eighth with a single to leftfield by nine-hitter Marlon Calbi. He was sacrificed to second on a Joe Cotter bunt, but sophomore reliever Jordan Cannon induced a groundout to Ortega at short for the second out. Szczur then lined a 2-0 offering inches beyond the outstretched glove of Ortega at short to give Villanova its first lead of the contest.
Temple posted six runs through the first five innings, but its potent offense fell silent from that point on. Barksdale had the Owls' last hit and baserunner, an infield single in the sixth, and the final 10 batters were retired by Nova relievers Kyle Carver and Mike Francisco.
DelGrippo raised his average to a season-best .345 with his three hits. He is batting .524 (11-for-21) during his six-game hitting streak.
Junior Tony Jusino also had two hits, knocked in two and continued his hot hitting. The San Diego product has a nine-game hitting streak and is batting .439 (18-for-41) during that span. He has hit safely in 16 of the past 17 games.
Senior Jamie Abercrombie added two hits, including his 17th double of the season. He is now tied for sixth place for career two-base hits (42) and tied for eighth place on the single season list.
Temple got on the board with two runs in the second on a sacrifice fly by Jusino and a RBI single by DelGrippo. TU added two more in the fourth when sophomore Byron McKoy doubled home two runs to make it 4-0.
Freshman Tyler Horst, making his fourth collegiate start, took a no-hitter into the fourth before the Wildcats put three on the board to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Two more Owl runs scored in the fifth on Abercrombie's double and Jusino's single. VU then tied the score in the bottom of the frame with three runs, using two hit batters and a walk to jump start the inning.
Cannon (1-5) suffered the loss, despite only allowing one earned run in 3.2 innings. He scattered five hits and struck out three.
Carver (3-1) picked up the win after giving up two earned runs in four innings. Francisco earned his fourth save with a perfect ninth.
Temple (16-23) is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Lafayette. Game time has been changed to 3:30 PM.
NOTES: Mid-week games at St. John's (May 4) and Delaware (May 6) have been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. The Owls are trying to add a game and details will be posted on owlsports.com once they are made available...McKoy failed to score a run for the first time in 15 games...Ortega is currently fourth nationally in doubles per game (0.52), according to NCAA.org.
