Joe Yermal tossed his first complete-game of the season and improved to 6-0 at Temple Friday. |
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Yermal Tosses Complete Game to Lift Charlotte Past Temple 6-2 in Friday Baseball
April 4, 2008
Ambler, Pa. - Behind freshman Joe Yermal's complete-game six-hitter and a five-run seventh inning, the Charlotte 49ers improved to 7-0 in Atlantic 10 play with a 6-2 baseball win over Temple at Skip Wilson Field Friday. Charlotte, ranked No. 18 by the Collegiate Baseball News, is now 22-4 overall and in first place alone in the A-10. Temple drops to 13-12, 5-2 in league play.
Yermal allowed a hit to the second batter of the game, and did not give up another hit until the eighth inning, sitting down eight in a row at one point.
Charlotte scored an unearned run in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. First baseman Alex Burt reached on the first of three infield errors by Temple in the game. He advanced to second on a balk, stole third and came home on an RBI single by O'Brien Taylor.
The game remained at that score until the seventh, when the Niners pushed across five runs on four hits, a walk and two more errors to break the game open. With one out, Charlotte got consecutive singles by Alex Burt, Corey Shaylor and O'Brien Taylor before consecutive infield errors put two more runners on. Brad McElroy deposited a double to right field to score the fifth run of the inning and give Charlotte a 6-1 lead.
With a one-hitter through seven, Temple scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings as Yermal wore down, but he completed the first game of his career and improved to 6-0, after lasting a then-career best eight innings last Friday at La Salle. The 39th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in last year's draft walked one batter, hit two others and struck out three on 110 pitches. His season ERA improved to 2.22 with a team-best 44.2 innings pitched.
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Temple could not capitalize on a great outing from starter Matt Mongiardini, who allowed only one earned run in 6.1 innings pitched. He gave up just six hits and three walks, with four strike outs. With the three errors, six runs were charged to him, but only one was earned. He dropped to 4-2 on the season.
O'Brien Taylor finished with the game-high three hits for Charlotte. Brad McElroy was the other multi-hit performer for the Niners with a pair of hits. He has now recorded a hit in 18 straight games, one shy of Bray's season-best 19 from earlier this year.
Game two of the series begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Junior Zach Rosenbaum is slated to return to pitch after last appearing on March 15.
NOTES: The nine-inning effort was Charlotte's second complete game of the season after Rosenbaum did the trick in his last outing against Stony Brook. The Niners have won the last 15 games against Atlantic 10 opponents, including last year's conference tournament. With a loss to Tennessee on Wednesday, Charlotte continues to avoid back-to-back losses. Charlotte has not lost consecutive games since the final two games of 2006, a stretch of 87 contests.
