Entering Friday coming off of a 9-7 victory against St. Peter’s on Wednesday, Temple (12-17, 3-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) fell to VCU (16-15, 3-4 A-10) 2-1 in a pitcher’s duel in Richmond, VA.
Despite only three runs total in the contest, it was VCU that scored the game winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, which sealed the 2-1 victory for the Rams.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rams scored their first run of the contest off of Temple sophomore pitcher Patrick Peterson. Following back-to-back one out VCU singles, a sacrifice-fly gave the Rams the 1-0 lead.
In the top of the eighth inning, Temple tied the game 1-1 as a sophomore shortstop Nick Lustrino single scored freshman right fielder Jimmy Kerrigan, who reached base on a leadoff single. The run in the eighth inning would be the Owls’ only run of the game.
VCU responded in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Rams scored their second run of the game on a sacrifice fly. The Owls entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-1 and despite having two runners on base in the ninth, a fly out from senior second baseman Jordan Queja ended the threat and sealed the one-run victory.
In the loss, Peterson earned his fourth loss of the season after pitching 8.0 innings allowing two runs on nine hits. Peterson recorded one walk and five strikeouts to his 2013 total.
The Owls will be back in action tomorrow against the Rams in the second game of a three-game series at 3:00 p.m. in Richmond, VA.
John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or Twitter @JohnMurrow12.
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