Temple University Athletics
Owls Halt Skid With 8-3 Win At Richmond
5.2.09 | Baseball
May 2, 2009
RICHMOND, VA - Junior righthander Ryan Thomas did not necessarily enter the 2009 season as the ace of the pitching staff. But he will certainly exit that way. Needing a clutch pitching performance to put a halt to a late-season skid, Thomas came through in the biggest of ways, throwing six strong innings to lead Temple to an 8-3 victory over Richmond on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Pitt Field.
The game was delayed nearly three hours due to rain and lightning and Thomas had no ill effects of moving up a day in the rotation from his normal Sunday spot. He allowed just one earned run in his six frames, scattering six hits and striking out three to improve to 4-3.
The righty worked out of jams in the first and second, stranding runners in scoring position, and allowed an unearned run in the third. He left a runner on third in the fourth inning, worked a perfect fifth and escaped a two-out, first and second situation with a groundout.
He gave way to freshman southpaw Dan Moller, who allowed just two baserunners in his three innings to record his first collegiate save. A solo homer by Matt Zink accounted for the only run against the rookie.
Temple had lost eight of its last 10 games in conference play heading into the contest, but today's win gives TU an 11-8 record in the Atlantic 10. The Owls (17-25) are in fifth place in the league, 1.5 games ahead of Fordham and Massachusetts for the sixth and final playoff spot. The Cherry and White is looking to make consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since 2001 and 2002.
With Thomas and Moller mowing down the Spiders, the Temple offense scored seven runs in a messy fifth inning to account for nearly all the scoring.
Sophomore Ben Flanary's first collegiate home run put the Owls up 1-0 in the third, but Richmond tied the score in the bottom of the frame. The visitors left the bases loaded in the fourth, but made up for it in the following inning.
With the rain falling, Temple took advantage of three UR errors in the fifth. Senior Sean Barksdale gave the Owls the lead for good with his RBI double and classmate Kyle Obal reached on an error.
Senior Mark Ortega drove in a run with an infield single, and junior Tony Jusino followed with a RBI double. Ortega came around to score on a pair of errors and Jusino crossed the plate on senior Jamie Abercrombie's single.
Senior Lenny DelGrippo then homered for the second straight day to make the score 8-1. It would be all the offense the Owls would need to win at Richmond for the first time since 1968.
Ortega led the way with three hits, while Abercrombie and sophomore Byron McKoy each had a pair of hits.
Matt Zielinski (1-3) allowed six earned runs in seven innings to suffer the loss for UR (19-20, 8-12). Zink had three hits and drove in two.
The series concludes on Sunday at noon. The game will be video streamed on SpiderTV.
NOTES: Obal had his hitting streak snapped at 12, while Jusino extended his streak to 12...Barksdale now has 152 career RBI, two short of tying Pete Dempsey's all-time record (1976-78)...TU is 5-1 on Saturdays in conference play...Moller is the first Temple freshman to record a save in conference play since Kyle Monahan did it on May 4, 2007...The 12 team saves ties a program record, set last season...Head Coach Rob Valli now has 299 career victories at Gloucester CC and Temple...TU needs three doubles to tie a program record of 117, set in 2007.
