Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Temple
Xavier Wins Its Way into a Tie for First
04.21.07 | Baseball
April 21, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - After a pitching duel through the first five innings, Xavier used a solo homerun by Adam Lipski to take the lead for good and down Temple, 6-3, in Atlantic 10 action on Saturday afternoon at Skip Wilson Field. With the win, the Musketeers have now moved into a three-way tie for first place in the conference. XU now stands one game out of .500 at 19-20 overall with a 12-2 mark in the A-10, while the Owls drop to 12-24 on the season and 4-10 in conference.
Lipski got the scoring started with his fourth homerun of the season as the senior took the Tom Dolan offering over the right field fence to give XU the 1-0 lead, one the Blue and White would not relinquish. Neil Lindgren singled and stole second to put himself into scoring position before Matt Waskerwitz singled to center to give XU its second run in the fifth and the 2-0 lead.
Chris Lozan singled to right to start off the top of the sixth. Lipski followed with a single to right center and advanced to second on the throw attempt to get Lozan at third to put runners at second and third with one out. Robbie Kelley continued to stay hot at the plate and picked up his 17th and 18th RBIs of the season after a single to right center plated Lozan and Lipski to give Xavier a 4-0 lead.
The Musketeers would allow two Owl runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to pull within 4-3 before Mark Janszen came in to strike out the final batter of the seventh to keep Xavier in front.
XU would tack on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth as Pat Coffey walked and stole second to allow Jordan Wolf to drive him to push the lead to 5-3. Wolf would later score on a wild pitch to plate the final run of the game.
Xavier received an outstanding pitching effort on the day as sophomore Charlie Leesman held the Owls to just five hits over the first six innings of work. Leesman would finish his day allowing only two earned on seven hits in 6.2 innings and had five strikeouts to pick up his team-leading fourth win of the season. Janszen went 1.1 innings allowing only one hit and one unearned run, while striking out two before freshman Zac Richard came in to close out the game. Richard threw the ninth and retired all three batters he faced in order to pick up his fifth save of the season.
Lipski stayed hot at the plate after a 4-for-4 day yesterday, the senior went 2-for-4 at the plate and added two runs and an RBI. Kelley posted a 1-for-3 day with two RBIs, while Adam Pasono had two hits.
The two teams will wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon at Skip Wilson Field. The first pitch is slated for 1:00 pm with Xavier's Michael Lucas searching for his third win of the season.
