Baseball Defeats Niagara 10-4

Friday, March 7

Philadelphia, Pa. - John W. Smithson Field

10:45 a.m.

Temple University

2-7

Niagara University

4-8

Niagara University

Temple University

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Baseball Defeats Niagara 10-4

3.7.14 | Baseball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Temple baseball (2-7) opened up the Big Five Baseball Bash with a 10-4 victory over Niagara (4-8) on Friday afternoon at Smithson Field on the campus of Saint Joseph's University.

Niagara opened up the scoring with one run in the first inning and two runs in the second inning. After allowing three runs (one earned) and three hits in the first two innings, starter Matt Hockenberry responded back by not allowing a hit in four consecutive scoreless innings.

After falling behind by three runs, Temple then outscored Niagara 10 to one the rest of the game. The Owls scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Josh Mason singled to left center with one out. Reyn Sugai then doubled to left field in the next at-bat. With two outs, Derek Peterson hit a long double over the centerfielder to score Sugai and Mason.

Niagara scored its final run in the seventh inning. The Purple Eagles finally got to Hockenberry, using singles off the pitcher's mound and a ball that dropped in between first baseman Rob Amaro and right fielder David Hall. Niagara's Taylor Hackett then hit another infield single to second base that knocked in the run. Tim McCarthy replaced Hockenberry after the run was scored. Hockenberry finished the game with four runs (two earned), three strikeouts and two walks.

"(Hockenberry) just started to trust his stuff," Coach Ryan Wheeler said. "Early on he was having trouble with the mound, slipping a little with the wet conditions the weather created. He locked in and got our team to the seventh inning, doing a tremendous job."

After hitting a batter with his first pitch, McCarthy struck out batters in a row with the bases full to end the inning.

Niagara's starter Jordan Schwartz was replaced by Ben Zaccagnino for the seventh inning, and the Owls took advantage of the pitching change with a seven-run inning. Mason singled up the middle to start things off. Sugai walked and Daniel Dragos followed by laying down an excellent bunt to third base and was able to beat the throw to first for a single. Peterson was then hit with a pitch to score Mason. Amaro then hit a fly ball to right field that was dropped in and Sugai scored on the play.

With one out, Andrew Nist hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Dragos. Frank D'Agostino singled through the right side of the infield to score Peterson. Hall singled and advanced to second on the throw that Amaro beat at the plate for the fifth run of the inning. Mason came up to bat a second time in the inning and doubled to left with Hall and D'Agostino both scoring.

"A part of our offensive philosophy is to get the starting pitcher's pitch count up high and see as many pitches early as we can," Wheeler said. "(Schwartz) was doing a good job, but I told my guys it's not the end of the ball game. We saw more of his off-speed pitches in the middle innings and did a much better job with our at-bats in those innings. We got his count up, saw some good pitches and did a good job hitting them for runs."

Zach Batchelor pitched the eighth inning and struck out one hitter with one hit allowed. Patrick Vanderslice pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two batters to end the game.

Seven Owls had hits in the game, with five having at least two. Mason led the way with three hits in four at bats with two RBI and two runs. Peterson had two doubles in the game.

McCarthy earned his first win of the season after pitching two-thirds of an inning before the Temple scoring barrage in the seventh.

Temple plays Villanova in the second day of the Big Five Baseball Bash at 2:45 p.m. tomorrow.