May 22, 2008

Box Score

CAMDEN, NJ - Duquesne's Anthony Manley hit a two-run double with one out in the eighth to beat Temple, 10-7, on Friday night in an elimination game at the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Campbell's Field. Temple had tied the game with a four-run top of the inning but ran out of magic in the bottom of the inning. Senior Stan Orzechowski had three hits and three RBI to lead the Owls.

Duquesne added an insurance run on Aaron Janusey's RBI single off senior Arshwin Asjes, who dropped to 0-2 with the loss. He finishes his career with 10 saves, good for third all-time at Temple.

The Owls (27-29) tied the score at 7-7 with a four-run explosion in the eighth. Three straight RBI singles by Orzechowski, freshman Byron McKoy, and junior Sean Barksdale turned what look to be a Duquesne runaway win into a tie game. The singles were preceded by a RBI groundout by junior Jamie Abercrombie.

Barksdale extended his hitting streak to 15 games with the single. He now has 47 RBI this season and 106 in two seasons, one short of John Marzano's school record for back-to-back campaigns.

Junior Kyle Obal had three hits, while junior Carmen Del Mastro added two.

The Dukes scored three runs in the seventh inning to open up a 7-3 lead and chase Temple starter Tom Dolan. Dolan struck out a season-high eight batters in six innings and allowed six earned runs.

Orzechowski continued his outstanding tourney in the second when his two-out, two-run triple tied the score at 2-2. It was his second triple of the tournament and team-high fourth of the season.

The Philadelphia product finished the tournament with a .583 batting average (7-for-12) and knocked in a team-high five runs.

Temple took a 3-2 lead in the third when Del Mastro legged out an infield single with two outs to drive in freshman Steve Nikorak.

The lead was short-lived when Bill Torre slammed a two-run homer to left with one out in the fourth. The long ball was the first in A-10 Tournament history for Duquesne.

Temple concludes its most successful season since winning the Atlantic 10 in 2001and was making its first appearance in the A-10 Tournament since 2002.

The Owls set a program record for conference wins (16) and won the most overall games (27) since the 1999 squad captured 28 victories. The nine-win improvement over last year's 18-win total is the most for TU since the ten-win jump from 1998 (18) and 1999 (28).

Andrew Heck had three hits, while Manley, Mike Carroll and Bill Torre had two RBI for the Dukes. Matt Zarin (2-2) picked up the win in relief, throwing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.

The Dukes (26-28-1) will advance to play #1 Xavier on Friday at 3:30 PM in another elimination game.