Temple Hosts Richmond For A-10 Weekend Series

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AMBLER- Another weekend; another Atlantic 10 Conference series for the Temple Owls (13-23, 1-8). For the second straight weekend, the Owls will host one of their conference foes, as the Richmond Spiders arrive Friday to open up a three-game set at Skip Wilson Field. With just one win in league play thus far, games are now critical for the Owls, as they will be halfway through A-10 play at the end of this series. Live Stats and Twitter updates will be available all weekend long, while live video stream will be available Saturday and Sunday. With the forecast including rain during the latter part of the weekend, be sure to check Owlsports.com for updates on potential game time/date changes.

SCOUTING THE OWLS...

The story headlining the series is head coach Ryan Wheeler will manage against the Spiders for the first time since leaving Richmond, who went to the Atlantic 10 Championship last season. Wheeler spent the previous five seasons as Mark McQueen's assistant before getting his first head

coaching job of his career at Temple.

Temple will get a glimpse of a pitching rotation that it will likely be using for the next few years to come. For the first time, twins Eric and Patrick Peterson will make starts over the course of the same weekend. The two will sandwich sophomore Matt Hockenberry in the order.

Senior Jabair Khan and freshman Nick Lustrino still remain torrid at the plate, coming in with on base streaks of 12 and 10 consecutive games, respectively.

Redshirt junior Steve Visnic and senior Brian Sustersic have been essential in the setup and closer roles of late. Visnic carries a 1.04 era out of the 'pen through 19 appearances, while Sustersic is climbing the all-time list for saves by a Temple closer, as he currently stands with five, tying

him for 9th.

Junior David Hall made the most of his opportunity after he got into Tuesday's ballgame. Breaking out of an 0-for-14 slump, Hall matched his season total with two hits and drew a walk. His single in the sixth inning, helped the Owls erase a 4-1 deficit and even the ballgame at four

before falling 7-5 to Delaware.

SCOUTING THE SPIDERS...

The Spiders (18-16, 5-4), who are coming off a hard fought, 7-5 loss, at No. 25 Virginia on Tuesday, visit Ambler, bringing one of the most threatening offenses in the nation. With 45 home runs on the year, Richmond is ranked fourth in the land. Despite smashing the most in the A-10, the Spiders return the favor, as they have served up 24, which is among the most by a pitching staff in the conference.

Senior Chris Cowell leads the league with 14 homers on the campaign and also leads the Spiders with 12 doubles and 37 RBIs. Classmate Phil Ruzbarsky is hitting a team-best .355 on the season.

On the mound, junior Jacob Mayers and freshman Zak Sterling have been the pacesetters for the pitching staff this season. Mayers has posted a record of 5-2 and an ERA of 4.48. The junior right-hander has also struck out a team-high 65 batters in 62.1 innings pitched. Sterling has been solid in his first season, going 4-1 with a team-best ERA of 3.48.

THE SERIES...

Richmond leads the all-time series with the Owls, 14-7-0. Temple and Richmond first met back in 1968 at Richmond, where the Owls swept a doubleheader. Most recently, the Owls and Spiders went head-to-head in 2010 at Skip Wilson Field. In the three-game set, which was two

years to this weekend, Temple took two of the three games.

Temple University Athletics

Temple Hosts Richmond For A-10 Weekend Series

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