Temple University Athletics
AL ROACH TWO-RUN HOMER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 10TH GIVES OWLS FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON
3.18.03 | Baseball
5-3, at Erny Field in the Owls home opener.
Temple (1-10) got a strong eight-inning pitching performance from sophomore Justin Mendek (Balackwood, NJ/Glouceser Catholic) who retired 11 batters in a row and 20 of 22 in one stretch. Mike Caron (1-2) came on and pitched a scoreless final two innings to pick up the win.
After falling behind, 1-0, in the top of the first, the Owls scored three times to take the lead. The big hit of the inning came off the bat of senior catcher, Jeff Roma (Endicott, NY/Enion-Endicott) who doubled in a pair of runs.
The Owls would go scoreless until the bottom of the 10th inning when after a one-out walk to first baseman, Rob Cucinotta (Drexel Hill, Pa/Monsignor Bonner), Roach deposited a 2-0 pitch from loser Cory Nadler over the left field fence.
Roach led the way for the Owls with three hits while Cucinotta had a pair of singles.
The Owls travel down to Maryland on Wednesday afternoon to take on the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in a 2:30 p.m. contest.
