Temple University Athletics
Spiders Take Series Opener From Temple, 13-10
5.1.09 | Baseball
May 1, 2009
RICHMOND, VA - Richmond had 16 hits, including three home runs, to take the series opener from Temple, 13-10, on Friday at Pitt Field. Six Owls had at least two hits, led by senior Lenny DelGrippo, who singled twice and hit a two-run homer.
Temple's offense continued to hit, recording 16 base-knocks and scoring 10 runs. But the Spiders proved to be a little more potent on this afternoon, rallying to score nine runs from the fifth through seventh innings to improve to 5-2 on Friday games in the conference.
In addition to DelGrippo, who is batting .531 (17-for-32) since April 16, seniors Mark Ortega, Kyle Obal and Carmen Del Mastro, junior Tony Jusino and sophomore Byron McKoy all had two hits.
Obal, who is batting .423 (22-for-52) during his 12-game hitting streak, and Jusino, who is batting .431 (22-for-51) during his 11-game streak, both drove in runs.
The Owls opened up a 5-4 lead after three innings. Senior Sean Barksdale drove in a run in the first with a single and DelGrippo's two-run homer in the third made it 3-2, TU. Jusino singled home a run in the third and later scored on an error to make it 5-2.
Richmond added two unearned runs in the third and took the lead for good in the fifth on nine-hitter Phil Ruzbarsky's three-run homer. Mike Mergenthaler had a two-run homer in a three-run sixth and a three-run double in the seventh to quickly make it 13-6.
Temple made things interesting by plating four in the eighth. Ortega led off with a single and DelGrippo walked to bring sophomore pinch-hitter Ryan Ferguson to the plate. He ripped a RBI double down the left field line and Del Mastro followed with a RBI single.
Senior Jamie Abercrombie plated a run on a groundout and McKoy added a two-out RBI single to make the score 13-10.
Temple (16-25, 10-8 A-10) had a pair of base runners on in the ninth, with the tying run at the plate and one out, but a game-ending double-play completed the contest.
Sophomore Ben White suffered the loss for TU, allowing eight earned runs in five innings. He struck out five and falls to 3-4.
Stephen Owens (3-2) earned the win, allowing four earned runs in seven innings for the Spiders (19-19, 8-11 A-10). Mergenthaler had a pair of hits and drove in five, while Cameron Brown had four hits and scored four times.
The Cherry and White will look to snap a five-game losing streak when the series continues on Saturday at 2 PM. The game will be video streamed on SpiderTV.
