#18 Charlotte Takes Advantage Of Temple Miscues In 6-2 Win :: Mongiardini's strong effort goes for naught

April 4, 2008

AMBLER, PA - Temple and junior Matt Mongiardini went toe-to-toe with Atlantic 10 heavyweight and #18 Charlotte for six full innings and trailed 1-0 heading into the seventh. But the defending A-10 champions exploded for five runs, four unearned, in the inning and took the series opener, 6-2, on Friday at Skip Wilson Field.

Mongiardini had arguably his best stuff during his stellar campaign. He allowed only three hits over the first six innings and an unearned run in the fifth was the only blemish through the middle frames. The junior took the loss to fall to 4-2 as Charlotte (22-4, 7-0 A-10) broke open the game in the seventh.

"I thought for six innings we had a great college baseball game," head coach Rob Valli said. "We had a very good team in Charlotte in town and Matt pitched outstanding. We let it get away from us in the seventh inning."

His final line does not do the Toms River, NJ native justice as he finished with 6.1 innings pitched, six hits, six runs (one earned), three walks and four strikeouts. His ERA, currently second in the conference, falls to 1.94.

As good as Mongiardini was, 49er freshman Joe Yermal was even better. After a first inning single by Temple freshman Byron McKoy. Yermal did not allow another hit until the eighth, retiring as many as eight straight batters at one point.

He improved to 6-0 with the complete game victory. The freshman scattered six hits, five coming in the final two frames, and allowed two earned runs while striking out three.

Defense continued to give Temple fits as five of the six runs were unearned. A fielding miscue in the fifth allowed the visitors to take a 1-0 lead when Alex Burt reached base on the error, moved to second on a balk, stole third and scored on O'Brien Taylor's RBI single.

The Owls (13-12, 5-2 A-10) had their best chance to score in the sixth. Junior Kyle Obal was just the third batter to reach base against Yermal when he led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch. Junior Jamie Abercrombie switched places with Obal on a fielder's choice and moved to second on senior Stan Orzechowski's walk. Abercrombie was then thrown out at third trying to steal and the threat ended with Charlotte still leading, 1-0.

The 49ers took advantage of the shift in momentum, using two costly errors to go ahead, 6-0. Corey Shaylor and Brad McElroy had RBIs in the frame and it took a pair of outs from freshman Jordan Cannon to end the frame. After a walk to the first batter he faced, Cannon retired five straight.

Temple began to make some noise late as Yermal approached the 100-pitch count. Obal led off the eighth with a double and later scored on Orzechowski's RBI single. In the ninth, the Cherry and White strung together three straight singles by senior Mike Kelch, junior Carmen Del Mastro and Obal to make it 6-2.

O'Brien Taylor had three hits and an RBI to lead the 49ers.

The two teams will meet on Saturday at 1 PM at Skip Wilson Field. Senior Mike Mongiardini will get the ball for the Owls and will be opposed by Charlotte junior Zach Rosenbaum.

NOTES: Despite forecasted heavy rain, the game was played with only a 20-minute episode of light drizzle...The contest was the first time that a ranked opponent visited Skip Wilson Field...Unearned runs have accounted for 15 of the last 20 runs against TU...Orzechowski has a nine-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 18 straight...Charlotte has won 15 games in a row against A-10 opponents dating back to 2007...The last time the 49ers lost back-to-back games was 87 contests ago in 2006.