Following an opening weekend that saw Temple’s final two games cancelled due to weather conditions in Cary, N.C., the Owls will be back on the field on Friday, Feb. 22 against Virginia Tech.
On Friday at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Temple (0-2) is set to take on Virginia Tech (4-0) despite potential rain forecasts in the Blacksburg, Va. area. Before their second game against Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Owls will face Holy Cross (0-0) at 12:00 p.m on Saturday. In their final game of the weekend, the Owls will once again play Holy Cross at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.
“Virginia Tech is an ACC club and they are going to be very talented,” coach Ryan Wheeler said. “They have had the chance to get outside and play some games and I expect them to be very tough. Holy Cross is coming out for the first time this weekend and just as we will, they will be working out their kinks.”
The Owls will be playing an offensively minded Virginia team that likes to show their muscle offensively, Wheeler said. In four games this season, the Hokies have outscored their opponents 34-12.
“Virginia Tech is going to swing,” assistant coach Brian Pugh said. “They are going to get in there and be aggressive. “As far as pitching goes, we have got to execute pitches and try to exploit there weaknesses. We have got some good information on them and we have got to do what we got to do. We have to get ahead in the count and make the hitters be on the defensive side.”
Having tied Temple’s all time lead in appearances on Friday, Feb. 15 in the 8-4 loss to Delaware, redshirt-senior pitcher Steve Visnic will look to set the Owls’ record for appearances in one of the team’s four games this weekend.
“I don’t think [Virginia Tech and Holy Cross] are anything that we cant handle as long as we play our game,” Visnic said. “We just need to stay focused on what we are doing rather than what they are doing and I think we will be alright.”
After last weekend’s tournament in which the Owls gave up 16 runs in two games, eight runs against Wright State and eight runs against Delaware, Temple will look to control their opponents offensive production this weekend, Pugh said.
“We have got a good challenge in front of us this weekend,” Pugh said. “I think we have a chance to do some good things too.”
