Temple University Athletics
Owls Fight Til Finish In 8-6 Loss At Richmond
5.3.09 | Baseball
May 3, 2009
RICHMOND, VA - Temple fell behind early and its late rally came up short in an 8-6 loss to Richmond in the series finale on another rainy Sunday at Pitt Field. The Owls trailed 5-1 after four innings but had the tying run on base with one out in the ninth. Senior Jamie Abercrombie had a career day at the plate, going 5-for-5.
Despite the loss, the Cherry and White (17-26, 11-9 A-10) remain clearly in the playoff picture for one of six bids in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. TU is currently in fifth place, a ½ game behind fourth-place Charlotte (12-9) and a ½ game ahead of sixth place Massachusetts (11-10). Temple hosts Saint Louis (8-12) this coming weekend before visiting Fordham (10-11) in two weeks.
Richmond (20-20, 9-12) got on the board with four runs in the second to chase junior starter Mike Click (Media, PA / Penncrest). Cameron Brown, who had a two-run double in that inning, made it 5-1 in the fourth with his solo homer.
Temple, which scored a run in the first on senior Sean Barksdale's sacrifice fly, added two in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3. Abercrombie had his third single of the day and moved to second on Barksdale's walk. After both runners moved up on a wild pitch, consecutive sacrifice flies by sophomore Byron McKoy and junior Tony Jusino scored two runs.
After the Spiders scored three in the fifth to extend their lead to 8-3, the visitors slowly chipped away, scoring a run in each of their last three at-bats.
Jusino singled home a run in the seventh with no outs, but the Cherry and White left runners on second and third when an inning-ending silenced the threat. In the eighth, Abercrombie came through with a two-out single to make it 8-5 and TU made things interesting in the ninth against former all-A-10 closer Brian Alas.
After a flyout to start the ninth, Jusino walked and Obal doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. Senior Mark Ortega (Palm Beach Gardens, FL / Palm Beach Gardens) followed with an RBI single to make it 8-6 and Obal moved up to third. Alas then struck out the next two batters to record his seventh save of the season.
The Owls had trouble in the clutch, leaving 12 base runners on base. TU left runners in scoring position in the second, third (bases loaded), fifth, seventh and ninth innings.
Obal had three hits, while Jusino extended his hitting streak to 13 games and drove in two.
Click (1-2) suffered the loss after allowing four earned runs in 1.1 innings. Sophomore Jordan Cannon pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, while freshman Dan Moller put up a zero in the ninth.
Richmond's Billy Barber (4-1) earned the win in relief, allowing two earned runs in 3.1 innings.
Abercrombie has had four hits in a game four times during his career at Temple, including twice this season. The last Owl to record five hits in a game was Stan Orzechowski on April 30, 2008 at Lafayette.
The Owls visit Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday in their final non-conference game of the season. First pitch is set for 2:30 PM.
NOTES: Barksdale's first inning RBI gives him 153 for his career, one short of tying Pete Dempsey (1976-78) for the all-time record at TU...Carmen Del Mastro was hit by a pitch twice in the game and leads the team with nine this season...Cannon appeared in his 23rd game this season on the mound, moving him into eighth place on the single season list...Matt Blackburn now has 68 career appearances, good for fifth all-time at Temple...Abercrombie has 43 doubles in his career, putting him in a tie for fifth.
