Nist's Three-Hit Day Can't Push Owls Past La Salle In 4-3 Loss

Friday, April 5

Skip Wilson Field

3:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-15, 2-5

La Salle

10-16, 5-2

La Salle

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Nist's Three-Hit Day Can't Push Owls Past La Salle In 4-3 Loss

4.5.13 | Baseball

Box Score

Note: Sunday's series finale with the La Salle Explorers has been changed from 12:00 p.m. start to a 1:00 p.m. opening pitch.

AMBLER, Pa.— Freshman Andrew Nist went 3-for-4 and knocked in a pair of runs to have his breakout game as a Temple Owl on Friday, but his team couldn't find a way to outdo the La Salle Explorers in the opening game of the Atlantic 10 Conference weekend series, as it fell 4-3 at Skip Wilson Field.

La Salle jumped out to a lead quickly. Senior Dan Klem opened the game with a single and then later scored on Mark Williams' RBI base hit in the first inning. Temple responded in the bottom half of the second when Nist smashed a pitch off of La Salle starter Ryan Donohue into center field to score redshirt senior Matt Elko after he had led off the inning with a base hit.

In the fourth inning, the Explorers' first three batters reached base. George Smith, Jr.'s double put him and Ryan Welling into scoring position for Rob Friskey, who laid down an RBI bunt single. La Salle increased its lead to a two-run margin on Klem's sacrifice fly that allowed Smith, Jr. to score and make it 3-1 Explorers.

Temple chipped away at La Salle's lead in the sixth by scoring a run in the same fashion as its first run came. Elko led off the frame with a base hit and after back-to-back ground outs by junior David Hall and senior Allen Stiles, Nist ripped a ball up the middle to score Elko for the second time on the day.

Sophomore Patrick Peterson, who started on the hill for the Owls, put together a strand of three strong innings after giving up the two runs in the fourth. Peterson, who left the ballgame with his team down a run, earned a no decision for the sixth time in his career after he threw 112 pitches on the day and pitched through the seventh inning for the second straight game. The Bear, Del. southpaw struck out six hitters, while allowing three runs on seven hits and one walk.

Pat Christensen took over for the Explorers in the seventh and threw the final three innings of the game for his club, allowing him to pick up his fourth win of the season. Christensen, who has been lights out for the Explorers over the course of his career, gave up a leadoff double to senior Henry Knabe, but then set the rest of Temple's lineup down in order.

Christensen's stuff was not as effective as he would have liked it and the Owls took advantage of it. Nist stepped up to the batter's box in the bottom of the eighth and his team down run. On the first pitch from Christensen, Nist hammered the ball into deep right field. Right fielder Justin Korenblatt made an effort to make the play, but bobbled it in his glove, allowing Nist to race around the bases and into third base on the fielding error.

Temple had the game-tying run 90 feet away, as freshman Sean Arnott came into run for Nist on the play. After Christensen fanned junior Bobby Heitzman away on strikes, senior Jordan Queja smoked a ball right off of Christensen, to reach base with single and knock Arnott in to tie the game at three.

Freshman Tim McCarthy, who took over for Peterson, went back to the mound in the ninth, making his longest outing of the season. With two down and McGowan at second after a single and a stolen base, head coach Ryan Wheeler went to his bullpen and called for sophomore Adam Dian.

McCarthy, who left the game with the score tied at three, could only lose or take a no decision. With McCarthy's runner still at second at base, Dian gave up a base hit to the first hitter to face him. Kevin Baron's single down the left field line allowed McGown to cross the dish and give the Explorers the lead once again. Baron reached second on the throw by Jimmy Kerrigan. Dian ended the inning with a strikeout the next hitter he faced.

The Owls worked to get a rally going in their last at bat. Knabe led off the frame with a double into right field, but was thrown out at third on Derek Peterson's fielder's choice. Peterson eventually made his way to second after a walk issued to Elko. With two on and two outs, senior Elijah Yarborough was sent in as a pinch hitter, but could not bring home the tying run, as the game came to an end on a foul out to the catcher down the first base line.

With the loss, it marks the third straight game that the Owls have lost, bringing them to 10-15 on the year and to 2-5 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Temple will host La Salle (10-16, 5-2 A-10) again on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when the two will meet for the second game of the three-game weekend set.

The Owls will be observing the game as "Temple Baseball Vs. Cancer." Following the rubber match, players, coaches and spectators will shave their heads to raise awareness for the effort needed to combat the disease. All fans in attendance are urged to take part in the charity event. Donations to the Vs. Cancer Foundation can still be made through Temple Baseball's team page at http://temple.vs-cancer.org.

Head coach Ryan Wheeler has been driven to get his players involved with a charity. At the start of the season, Wheeler, who lost his father to lung cancer three years ago, met with Chase Jones and learned his story astonishing story. With that, the Owls partnered with the Vs. Cancer Foundation. Since starting their campaign to raise money for childhood cancer research, the team has already surpassed its goal ($2,500) by nearly $1,000.

The Vs. Cancer foundation was started by Chase Jones, a brain cancer survivor. As a freshman and baseball player at UNC Chapel Hill, Jones was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer, causing him to undergo five rounds of chemotherapy. In 2010, after taking a year off for his treatment and returning to school the following fall, he persuaded his teammates, coaches, managers and trainers, a group of about 50 people, to shave their heads to raise money for the pediatric oncology program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The event, dubbed BaseBald at UNC, raised $5,400, and a similar event a year later raised over $14,000, an effort that landed Jones the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award last year from the Triangle chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Following his graduation in 2011, Jones pitched the idea to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which raises money through head-shaving events to benefit kids with cancer.

Jones joined the Foundation just over a year ago as BaseBald and family relations coordinator, and last year helped raised over $375,000 through 40 head-shaving events by high school, college, minor league and youth baseball teams in 14 states.

Now, Jones has formed his own charity, the Vs. Cancer Foundation, which has the mission of “saving kids' lives by empowering athletes and communities to fund lifesaving childhood cancer efforts.”