Nikorak and Dunigan Propel Owls Past Penn, Rally Back to Win, 11-9 in 11 Innings

Wednesday, March 14

Philadelphia, Pa.

3:00 p.m.

Temple University

6-10

Penn

3-6

Temple

Pennsylvania

Nikorak and Dunigan Propel Owls Past Penn, Rally Back to Win, 11-9 in 11 Innings

3.14.12 | Baseball

Box Score

Adam Dian notched his first career save

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA A day after falliing short in a comeback attempt at home against La Salle, redshirt senior Steve Nikorak made sure that Wednesday's affair with Big 5 rival University of Pennsylvania would be different. Nikorak bailed the Owls out of a 5-0 hole, dug by the Qukers, when he smashed his first home run of the season with two runners aboard to tie the game at seven in the eighth inning. Temple forced extra innings in the Quakers' season opener at Meiklejohn Stadium, before eventually winning the ballgame, 11-9, in the 11th on Foster Dunigan's single that cleared the bases in the Owls' half of the inning.

With one out in the first inning, UPenn scored runs quickly, as Ryan Dietrich blasted a three-run homerun, followed by an RBI-double off the bat of Austin Bossart . Temple fell behind quickly giving up five runs in the first two innings.

The first run on the board for Temple came off the bat of sophomore Connor Reilly's single that scored Nikorak from third. Nikorak's walk extended his on base streak to 16 consecutive games to start the season. Next batter Matt Elko ripped an RBI double that scored Reilly from first. With two runs on the board Temple was behind 5-2 going into the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the seventh, the Owls made a strong comeback, grabbing two more runs off of an RBI single from senior Taylor Juran.

At the bottom of the inning, just one run away from tying the game, the Quakers recouped some of its lead when Spencer Branigan belted a two-run homerun over the left field wall.

Nikorak showed why he was chosen as the Atlantic 10 Conference's Player of the Week in the eighth inning when he took a pitch over the left-center wall, bringing in a total of three runs to tie the Quakers at seven-all. Nikorak's first round-tripper extended his hitting streak to eight games.

In the ninth, still tied at seven, senior Jabair Khan sliced a double down the right base line. A sac fly by Foster Dunigan advanced Khan. Two pitches later to junior Jordan Queja, Khan charged for home plate on a steal attempt. On what looked to be an extremely close call at the plate, Khan was called out.

Right fielder David Hall, Elko and Khan all walked to start an exciting 11th inning for the Owls.

With no outs, Dunigan cleared the bases with a double putting the Owls up 10-7. A sac fly to center by freshman Nick Lustrino scored Dunigan to put Temple ahead, 11-7.

The Quakers show determination grabbing two runs but fall short in the Owls 11-9 win.

Ryan Kuehn started on the mound for the Owls. After 4.0 innings and recording two strikeouts, middle reliever Steve Visnic came to the hump for 2.1 innings. Brian Sustersic records the win with a strong effort going 2.2. In the bottom of 11th and no outs, Adam Dian came to close out the ballgame, notching his first career save.

The Owls (6-10) will host a weekend series at Skip Wilson Field starting Friday against St. Peter's at 3:00 p.m. Saturday the Owls will face NY Tech followed by Binghamton on Sunday, both games slated to start at 1:00 p.m.