Baseball Returns To Skip Wilson Field To Host Charlotte In First Home A-10 Series

AMBLER- Temple hosts its first Atlantic 10 Conference series of the season at Skip Wilson Field this weekend when it welcomes the Charlotte 49ers Friday at 3:00 p.m. The Owls are opening what will be an eight-game homestand and the first half of back-to-back A-10 series' weekends. Owl Access will provide live video streaming for all three contests. Live Stats and Twitter updates will be provided as well.

Senior Jabair Khan has turned it on as of late. In the last eight-games, the Owls' everyday center fielder has pounded out at least one hit and is batting .467 during that span, helping him to increase his overall batting average by 80 points.

In their last time out, the Owls couldn't climb back from Monmouth's 2-0 first inning lead. Temple trailed 3-2 in the ninth, but with the bases loaded, the Owls were shutdown.

Temple (12-20, 0-6) and Charlotte (14-19, 2-7) come into Friday''s game each looking to halt five-game losing streaks. The Owls have not won since April 1 when it defeated Monmouth, 7-1 at Skip Wilson Field, whereas the 49ers are winless since the same day when it defeated Xavier, 6-5 on the road.

Freshman Nick Lustrino, who leads the team in hitting (.322) comes into the weekend tied with junior Jordan Queja for the team-lead in hits (39).

Redshirt senior Steve Nikorak, the Owls' all-time leader in doubles and currently No. 7 on the school's all-time hits list, paces the team with 27 runs scored and 22 runs batted in.

Senior Dan Moller will start on Friday for the Owls, while sophomore Matt Hockenberry goes for his staff-leading fifth win of the season on Saturday and freshman Patrick Peterson toes the rubber in the rubber match on Sunday.

Charlotte rolls into Ambler this weekend after dropping a home midweek contest to Wake Forrest by a count of 12-7 on Wednesday. Playing its fourth A-10 series already this season, Charlotte is looking for its first conference series win. The 49ers took wins out of Rhode Island and at Xavier before being swept at home by Dayton last weekend.

Under the guidance of 20-year head coach Loren Hibbs, the 49ers are hitting .286, while opponents bat .242 against them

Redshirt senior Shane Brown leads the team with a .343 batting average and 46 hits.

The 2011 A-10 Pitcher of the Year, Andrew Smith will make the start on the mound for Charlotte. On the year, right-hander has gathered a 3-5 record. Joe Yermal and Tyler Barnette will round out the rotation Saturday and Sunday.

THE SERIES...

Temple is in search of its first-ever series win over the Charlotte 49ers, who lead the all-time sereis 3-9-0. The last time the two teams met was back in 2010 down in Charlotte, where the 49ers took two of the three games. Temple won the first game of the set on April 30 of that year by a count of 8-4. The Owls defeated Charlotte once in 2009 and in 2008- both at Skip Wilson Field. In 2008, Charlotte was ranked No. 18 in the nation.

Temple University Athletics

Baseball Returns To Skip Wilson Field To Host Charlotte In First Home A-10 Series

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