March 28, 2009
Box Score
AMBLER, PA - Jeff Flax drove in a pair of runs for La Salle Baseball - the second brought the Explorers to within one in the seventh - however the host Temple Owls plated six unanswered to pull away and take the Atlantic 10 Conference contest, 10-3, Saturday at Skip Wilson Field.
Unfortunately for the freshman, Flax was unable to get a hit which ended his team-long (for the season) nine-game hitting streak. He had 16 hits over the stretch and batted .372 with eight runs scored.
Meanwhile, another freshman who made his first start this week and started four times this week - Tony Negrin - had five hits in the series and two hits in the game, while batting .500 for the week (8-for-16).
He scored twice - first on a Flax grounder in the fifth, La Salle's first run of the game, and then came home on a wild pitch in the seventh. That was just before Flax hit a sac fly to left field to score Chris Umstead which cut the Explorers deficit to 4-3.
Temple (11-11, 6-0 A-10) responded with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, the big blow a three-run home run by Mark Ortega.
Ryan Thomas improved to 3-1 with the win, while Matt Blackburn registered his third save of the season. TJ Chism suffered the loss and is 0-2 this season.
La Salle (9-13, 0-6 A-10) will return to action this week with a pair of games versus Lehigh. On Tuesday, they host the Mountain Hawks at Hank DeVincent Field with first pitch at 3:30 PM. They go up to Bethlehem on Wednesday, with a 3:30 PM start as well.
