April 16, 2005
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team had its six-game winning streak snapped in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader with a 5-3 loss to Temple.
Rhode Island, which remains in first place in the Atlantic 10 East Division, will go for its 11th-straight Atlantic 10 series victory in the rubber game of series on Sunday at noon.
The Rams (14-15, 8-3 Atlantic 10) won the first game 4-2 and had a 3-0 lead in the second inning of the second game, but Temple used a pair of two-run home runs to hand 2004 Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year Zack Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.) just his second Atlantic 10 loss in 12 career conference starts.
Zuercher went the distance, allowing nine hits and striking out seven to drop to 2-1 in Atlantic 10 play this season. He is still 8-2 in 12 career Atlantic 10 starts.
Rhode Island's offense, which had outscored its opponent 68-7 in the last five games entering Saturday, was kept in-check once again by a Temple starting pitcher. Temple's Mike Weckenman earned the complete-game victory, allowing nine hits and three runs with three strikeouts.
"We played a couple of really solid games today," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "In the second game we didn't get a timely hit when we needed it. You have to give Temple credit. They're fighting and you could tell they were playing with a sense of urgency. It's sets up an interesting third game Sunday."
After having his 18-game school-record hitting streak snapped in the first game of the doubleheader, sophomore Ryan Cunningham (Centreville, Va.) went 2-for-4 with a RBI in the second game. Junior Darly Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) and sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) each had two hits.
Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) hit a solo home run, while senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) and junior Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) each had hit.
The Rams jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Sullivan singled, stole second and advanced to third on a single by Brown. After Brown stole second, Cunningham hit a RBI-single to center field to drive in Sullivan and move Brown to third. Rainville followed with a RBI-groundout to make it 2-0.
Nestor led off the second inning with a home run to left center for a 3-0 lead, but the Rams would not score another run in the game.
Temple (8-18, 1-7 Atlantic 10) pulled within one on a two-run home run by Dan Brady in the bottom of the second inning and then took a 4-3 lead on a two-run home run by Jason Connor in the third.
The Owls added a run in the fourth inning on a lead-off double by Pete Colon, who advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield single by Devon Swope.
