Bats Come Alive; Owls Win Home Debut, 10-3 Against Lafayette

Wednesday, March 13

Skip Wilson Field

3:30 p.m.

Temple University

4-9

Lafayette

2-10

Lafayette

Temple

Bats Come Alive; Owls Win Home Debut, 10-3 Against Lafayette

3.13.13 | Baseball

Box Score

| Wheeler Postgame Interview

AMBLER, Pa.— Temple used an offensive explosion in its 2013 home opener to beat the Lafayette Leopards, 10-3, on a season-high 14 hits Wednesday afternoon at Skip Wilson Field. Behind starter, Matt Hockenberry's strong performance and runs scored in each of the last five innings, the Owls rebounded from Tuesday's setback at Longwood and avoided a three-game losing streak, as it won its fourth game of the season.

The Owls fell down by two runs before they had a chance to bat, but chipped away at the Leopards lead and tied the game in the fourth inning on a fielding error by Lafayette centerfielder Andrew Santomauro, allowing redshirt senior Matt Elko to score.

Elko provided the majority of TU's offense by going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored in the team's home-opener win.

In the following inning, Lafayette brought in Derek Gssaroff into a tied ballgame in relief of starter Ari Kaufman, who tossed 4.0 innings, through which he allowed two runs on four Temple hits.

Senior Henry Knabe stepped up the plate and greeted Gussaroff with a leadoff tripled to center field, setting himself to score later in the inning when junior Derek Peterson grounded into a fielder's choice. The Owls took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning and would never relinquish the advantage.

Redshirt junior David Hall started his first game of the year and had a breakout offensive game with three RBIs, going 2-for-5 with a double to left field and a run scored.

Senior Jordan Queja and sophomore Nick Lustrino each extended their on-base streaks to 17 and 13 straight games, respectively. Queja went 1-fo3-3 on the day with a pair of walks. He continued his streak when he took a leadoff walk in his first plate appearance, while Lustrino kept his stretch alive with a bunt single in the third inning, helping him finish 2-for-5 on the day.

Junior Bobby Heitzman pinch hit during the sixth inning when he tripled down the right field line, scoring Hall to extend TU's lead. This was the outfielder's first hit on the season in seven at-bats.

Making his third start of the season, Hockenberry settled in after surrendering a pair of first inning runs. The Owls' 2012 wins leader cruised through the next five innings and held the Leopards scoreless through the rest his outing, while striking out four batters to earn his first win of 2013. Teammates, Steve Visnic and Ryan Kuehn pitched the final three innings to secure the win.

Visnic came on in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning before working his way out of a bases loaded situation, despite letting up one run. Kuehn was efficient in the ninth. Needing just eight pitches in the inning, the redshirt sophomore got two of his three batters to line out in addition to striking out Leopard pinch hitter Rob Caliento.

The Owls extended their lead in the seventh and eighth innings by scoring two and three runs, respectively.

Temple used small ball in the seventh by tacking on two runs on three singles. In the team's last at bat, Lustrino, who was 2-for-5 on the day with an RBI, increased the lead to five by hammering a double to deep left-center during the Owls' three-run inning.

Temple improves to 4-9 on the season as it prepares for its doubleheader against Penn State this Saturday with the first pitch beginning at 12:00 p.m. at Skip Wilson Field.