University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Temple
Richmond Takes Both Games Of Twinbill To Sweep Temple
04/14/2007 | Baseball
April 14, 2007
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| Highlights 
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond baseball team took both games of a doubleheader Saturday, beating Temple by scores of 4-3 and 15-6, to clinch the three-game sweep of the Owls at Pitt Field. The Spiders got two strong pitching performances from starters Alex Hale and Josh Horn to improve to 22-14 overall, 10-2 in the Atlantic 10. Brian Alas set a new school record with his 10th save of the season.
Benji Marshall went four-for-four in game one, collected another hit in game two, drove in two runs on the day and scored three times for Richmond. Joe Mahoney scored three times in the night cap and drove in two runs in game one.
Two big offensive innings for Richmond - one in each game - proved to be the difference in the doubleheader. The Spiders clawed back from an early 2-0 deficit with a four-run fifth inning and took the first half of the twinbill. The Richmond offense was unleashed for seven runs in the top of the first inning of game two as they cruised to a wire-to-wire victory. Eight defensive miscues in the doubleheader also cost Temple (11-21, 4-8).
First game starter Alex Hale (5-2) pitched a jem as he went eight innings with five strikeouts, three walks and scattered five hits. Hale, who threw 123 pitches, allowed three earned runs and gave way to Brian Alas in the final inning. He shut the door on Temple to pick up his league-leading 10th save of the season and second in as many days.
Josh Horn (3-2) was staked to an early 7-0 lead and pitched effectively to record his third win this season in game two. In his longest outing this season, Horn went six innings, scattered 12 hits and allowed four runs with six strikeouts against no walks.
After Temple had opened a 2-0 lead in game one -- thanks to sacrifice fly in the first from Kyle Weber and a solo homer from Dan Brady in the second -- Richmond plated four in the fifth to take the lead for good.
Matt McKenna led off the inning with a double and was moved to third on a bunt single from Austin Reilly. McKenna came home and Reilly moved to third when Victor Croglio's groundball to first resulted in two errors. Marshall singled to score Reilly and following a Hank Coogan single, Mahoney ripped a two RBI single to center to cap the scoring.
The Owls got a run back in top of the ninth, but Alas came on to get the final three outs and clinch Richmond's fourth A-10 series in as many tries this season.
The night cap, meanwhile, was never in doubt. Richmond scored seven times in the first inning, extended that lead to 11-2 in the sixth and won 15-6.
Marshall got it started by leading the game off with a double. Joe White singled and Mahoney walked to load the bases. Two more walks in succession to Vince Riggi and Alex Wotring plated the first two runs. An error on a McKenna groundball plated another run and two Spiders came home on a Cameron Brown single. Two more RBI singles from Croglio and Marshall would finish the inning. In all, the Spiders scored seven times on five hits and three walks.
Wotring had an RBI ground out in the second, McKenna belted a run-scoring double in the fourth and Evan Stehle roped an RBI single in the sixth to make it 11-2. Temple got four back in the seventh, thanks to a three-RBI triple from Devon Swope. But the Spiders reclaimed their nine-run cushion with four more in bottom of the seventh.
Croglio hit a solo home run, Mahoney hit a sac fly to score Marshall and McKenna roped another double to plate Richmond's final two runs.
Richmond will now hit the road for five straight games, beginning with a pair of non-conference match-ups at Virginia (Tuesday at 7 p.m.) and at VMI (Wednesday at 6 p.m.). The Spiders are at Duquesne for an A-10 series that begins Friday.
