March 25, 2008
Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
PHILADELPHIA - With an RBI triple in the sixth inning by TJ Chism - his fourth RBI of the afternoon - the La Salle University Baseball team was leading by six, but the host Temple Owls would score eight unanswered and defeat the Explorers, 10-8, at Skip Wilson Field Tuesday afternoon in the first round of the Liberty Bell Classic.
Already leading 1-0, Chism drove a ball over the right-center field fence for a three-run home run - his first of the season - and increased the Explorer lead to 4-0. Scoring on the blast in the fifth inning was John Rickards and Rick Gehman.
Temple answered in the bottom of the frame on a two-run shot off the bat of Sean Barksdale and the Owl deficit was cut in half.
La Salle then pushed four more runs across the plate in a rather long top half of the sixth inning. Mike Click, who started for the Owls, was pulled for Ben White and the first batter he faced was Brian Meagher, who doubled to center.
Just before the next pitch, White threw to second in a pick-off attempt and Meagher appeared to be out, however, the home plate umpire called a balk and was awarded third base. After several minutes of discussion with Temple Head Coach Rob Valli, Meagher was sent back to second.
La Salle Head Coach Mike Lake then spoke with the umpires, which led to Meagher going back to third, prompting Valli to come out once again. After more than six minutes of discussion, play resumed with Mike Canfarotta hitting his second sacrifice fly to center field scoring Meagher.
Four batters later, Rickards laced a double into the center field gap, which scored Shane Frangiosa and Justin Handler. That was followed by Chism's RBI triple to right field, which gave the Explorers an 8-2 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Owls finally got to La Salle starter Drew Gerhart as they scored five in the frame to pull to within one. They added three more in the bottom of the seventh inning - the key hit a two-RBI single by Mike Kelch, which gave the Owls the 10-8 lead.
Temple (11-7) then went to its closer Arshwin Asjes in the ninth and he pitched a perfect inning for his fourth save of the season. Matt Blackburn (2-0) picked up the win for the Owls, while Joe Vincent (0-2) suffered the loss.
La Salle (4-19) will now turn its attention to its weekend three-game Atlantic 10 series with #23 Charlotte, which starts Friday at Hank DeVincent Field at 3 PM.
