In the first meeting of a three-game series in Washington D.C., George Washington (9-16, 4-0 Atlantic-10) defeated Temple (9-12, 1-3 A-10) 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday, March 29.
Despite a 3-1 Temple lead entering the bottom half of the eighth inning, the Owls were unable to hold onto their two-run lead as the Colonials scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on an Owls’ fielding error.
Starting the game on the mound for Temple was sophomore pitcher Patrick Peterson, who entered the game with a 1-3 record accompanied by a 5.33 ERA.
In the top of the first inning, the Owls took the early 1-0 lead as a two-out double from junior first baseman Derek Peterson scored senior second baseman Jordan Queja, who reached on a leadoff walk, followed by his team leading 11th stolen base of the season.
Temple was able to add a second run in the top half of the second inning as freshman catcher Michael D’Acunti notched his first collegiate double, scoring redshirt- junior right-fielder David Hall. Heading to the bottom of the second inning, the Owls lead the Colonials 2-0.
Following a scoreless third inning, the Owls increased their lead to 3-0 as D’Acunti sent a solo home run over the right field wall, his second of his freshman season. The fourth inning run would be Temple’s final run in the match-up.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Patrick Peterson allowed his first hit of the game as freshman catcher Matthieu Robért hit his third home run of the season, reducing the Temple lead to 3-1.
Trailing by two runs until the bottom half of the eighth inning, the Colonials found themselves down by one run as a double from senior shortstop Matthew Murakami to left field scored senior right-fielder Tyler McCarthy, who reached base on a two-out walk surrendered by Patrick Peterson.
Following the end of the eighth inning, Temple led George Washington 3-2. Patrick Peterson finished his day with eight innings pitched, allowing two runs on three hits and recording one walk and six strikeouts.
After a scoreless top of the ninth for the Owls, redshirt-junior pitcher Ryan Kuehn entered in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs in the inning, pinch hitter senior first baseman Derek Brown singled to left field, scoring senior second baseman Justin Albright and tying the game 3-3.
It was not until the final play of the game that the Owls had committed an error, as a fielding error from senior third baseman Henry Knabe scored sophomore pinch runner Xavier Parkman and giving the Colonials the 4-3 walk-off win.
“It was just one of those things where we didn’t put them away early and it came back to bite us,” junior right-fielder Bobby Heitzman said. “We didn’t capitalize and they put us away in the end.”
Temple will be back in action against George Washington on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Owls will not only be in search of their second conference win of the season, but will also look to hand the Colonials their first conference loss of 2013.
John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or Twitter @JohnMurrow12.
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