VILLANOVA SCORES IN NINTH TO BEAT TEMPLE, 11-10, IN WILD GAME ::

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA -- It was a fitting ending to a wild game. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Villanova's James Dolbier grounded weakly to the right of sophomore pitcher Chris McCafferty. McCafferty made a nice play to get to the ball but proceeded to throw it away allowing Jeremy Hunt to score the winning run to give the Wildcats an 11-10 victory at Villanova Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon.

The contest featured 26 hits, eight walks, eight hit batsmen and two starting pitchers that each recorded only one out. Temple (10-28) went up 6-0 after the first inning and held a 10-7 lead in the seventh but fell for the eighth straight time in non-conference play.

Senior Pete Colon joined select company in the TU annals with his tenth homerun of the season, a two-run blast in the fourth inning. He is one of 16 Owls to reach double-digits in dingers for a single season and moves past John Marzano '84 and Pete Dempsey '78 into fourth place on the career homerun list with 26.

Freshman Frank Nunan remained hot, banging out three hits and driving in two runs. The rookie raised his average to .429, which would lead the Atlantic 10 if he had enough at-bats to qualify.

The Owls jumped on Nova starter Jim Baxter, who tossed six effective innings against TU last Wednesday, in the opening frame. Temple used four walks and a hit batsman to score six runs, all earned, to chase the southpaw with one out in the first.

Freshman Carl Taylor started the game for the Cherry and White and loaded the bases with three hit batters and a walk, forcing in a run. Classmate Eric Fritz relieved Taylor after one out and recorded two fly outs to leave the bases juiced.

Villanova (26-16-2) scored five runs in the second inning, all unearned, off Fritz to tie the score. The Wildcats would score another run in the third to take a 7-6 lead, which would be their last until the game-winning run crossed the plate in the ninth.

Colon's homer gave TU an 8-7 lead in the fourth and the Owls added runs in the fifth and sixth to go ahead 10-7. Senior Justin Cooper singled home Nunan, who had singled, in the fifth. Nunan then drove in Colon for Temple's final tally in the sixth.

Junior Tim Andrel pitched four innings of shutout relief before running into trouble in the seventh. He left after giving up two singles to lead off the inning and was replaced by freshman Steve Develin, who was pitching just minutes away from his alma mater, Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.

VU scored three runs in the frame, two charged to Andrel, to tie the score at 10. Wildcat ace Nick Allen (6-4) was mowing down the Owls at the plate and eventually earned the win with 3.1 innings of perfect relief.

Hunt greeted McCafferty (2-6) with a leadoff double and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored the game-winner when McCafferty's throw to first was up the line on Dolbier's groundball.

Four Owls had multiple hits, led by Nunan's three. Colon, sophomore Dan Brady and junior Marc Wagner each had a pair of safeties.

Temple hosts Massachusetts in a three-game Atlantic 10 series beginning on Saturday. First pitch is set for noon at Ambler Field.