Collegiate Times

The Hokies dropped their home opener 7-3 against the Temple Owls, their first loss of the season.

The game, which was originally scheduled for Friday but was postponed due to inclement weather, started off positively for the Hokies. With just one out in the first inning, Chad Pinder singled in Gary Schneider to put Tech up 1-0. 

Dan Moller, who started the game for the Owls, allowed two runs on five hits.

The next three innings were as bleak as the cloudy Blacksburg skies themselves, and another three innings passed before the scoreboard would light up again.

The Owls scored a run a piece in the 5th and 6th frames to take a 2-1 lead. The Hokies, ever resilient, scored one of their own in the 6th as Brendon Hayden crushed a double down the right field line, scoring Andrew Rash all the way from first.

Eddie Campbell received the starting nod for the Hokies (4-1) and allowed two runs on three hits in his six innings of work. Campbell, who started only three games for the team in 2012, departed with the game tied heading into the 7th.

At that point, the game was in the hands of the bullpens.

Jake Joyce, who was brilliant for the Hokies a weekend ago in Wilmington, NC., came on and retired the Owls in order. In the 8th, however, he was unable to do the same.

The Owls sent three runners across the plate in that frame, including a pair with two outs: a theme for the Owls throughout the day. Of the seven Owls’ runs, six of them were scored with two outs.

The Hokies were able to fight back with one run of their own in the 8th as Andrew Rash lined a hanging curveball from Owls’ reliever Eric Peterson, who finished the game as the winning pitcher, into the left field gap for a double.  The extra-base hit scored Tyler Horan, but the tally was the only one surrendered by the Temple bullpen.

The Owls added two more insurance runs in the ninth, but, with the Hokies failing to counter in their final plate appearance, their impact was little. 

The game was won and lost respectively, not in the hands of the starting pitchers, but in the bullpens. The Hokies relievers allowed five runs in the final two innings, while the Owls ceded just the one.

Jake Joyce was deemed the losing pitcher, dropping his record for the season to 1-1.

The Hokies will play again Saturday as they host the Crusaders of Holy Cross at 2:30 p.m.

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 25 issue of the Collegiate Times.