The baseball team beat Memphis on Sunday 4-3, winning its first conference series of the 2014 season.
Entering their first year in the American Athletic Conference, the Owls now have a 7-10 overall record. This is the team’s final season before the university’s athletic cuts will take effect in July.
The baseball team will begin playing at Campbell’s Field in Camden, N.J., on April 4 against Cincinnati.
The women’s rowing team is set to kick off its spring season Saturday on the Schuylkill.
Temple will race against Drexel, Delaware and Lehigh. Beginning at 2 p.m., the women’s novice eight “B” will go head to head against Delaware “B.” Drexel and Delaware’s women’s novice eight “A” will square off against the Owls 12 minutes later. The varsity four “B” will compete with Delaware and Drexel followed by the varsity four “A” slated for 2:36 p.m. versus Lehigh, Delaware and Drexel. The race will conclude with both varsity eights competing against Drexel, Lehigh and Delaware starting at 2:48 p.m.
The men’s crew team will scrimmage against Rutgers at 7 a.m.
Redshirt-junior forward Anthony Lee has decided to transfer from Temple.
The news was first reported by Keith Pompey of The Inquirer. Lee reportedly told coach Fran Dunphy of his decision yesterday. Lee has acknowledged his decision to depart on Twitter.
Lee is due to graduate in May with a degree in communications. He can transfer to any university and be eligible to play immediately since he will have already earned his undergraduate degree. He cannot enroll in a graduate program that is also offered at Temple.
He averaged 13.6 points on 49.5 percent shooting and 8.6 rebounds per game in 2013-14. He led the American Athletic Conference in rebounds per game and was tenth in the conference in field goal percentage.
On March 4., freshman guard Feyonda Fitzgerald earned weekly honors from the American Athletic Conference and the Philadelphia Big 5.
For the fifth time this season, Fitzgerald was named The American Freshman of the Week, while she also earned Big 5 weekly honor roll honors for the fourth time this year
In two consecutive conference road games against Rutgers and Central Florida, Fitzgerald averaged 13.5 points per game, while shooting 8-for-10 from the free throw line. The freshman guard also tied a team-high in points in the Owls’ regular season finale against Houston, scoring 16.
Fitzgerald ended the regular season as Temple’s leading scorer, averaging 12.6 points and four assists.
Yesterday, after a delayed Southern Methodist-Central Florida game ended in a Mustangs victory, Temple was officially announced as the No. 6 seed in this weekend’s American Athletic Conference tournament.
With all the conference’s seedings finalized, Temple (14-15,8-10) will play in a quarterfinal contest against No. 3 South Florida (18-11,13-5) at 8pm on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. The game will appear on ESPN3.
The Owls have lost both matchups against the Bulls this season. Most recently, Temple lost in the final seconds at the Liacouras Center on Feb. 22. In that game, Bulls’ sophomore guard Courtney Williams recorded a career-high 35 points, and was honored as the conference’s player of week in the following days.
Leading up to the tournament, Temple has won two consecutive games by 10 points or more, while USF is rolling with a five-game winning streak, including its most recent upset against a nationally ranked Rutgers team.
DANIELLE NELSON | TTN
From wrestling to “Cear Bare” costumes, the women’s rowing team recently celebrated its second annual Champ Week.
The team of close to 60 women was separated into groups throughout the week for intersquad competitions, but before the competition started, each group wore matching costumes.
“When we were explaining to them we said bonus points for costumes, half jokingly expecting one day they would all wear matching red shirts, something simply, but they took it to the complete extreme and it was awesome,” coach Rebecca Grzybowski said.
There were unicorns, “Temple Maids,” and a team of Steve ‘Erg’- el all prancing around the erg room this past week to culminate a month of brutal indoor training. The team looks to get on the water this week as their season is less than three weeks away.
Champ Week was started a year ago by an assistant graduate. More photos can be seen here.
The men’s crew team is heading to Florida on Friday ahead of its first race of the season in the Stetson Invitational on March 8.
With the exception of two juniors, all the sophomores, juniors and seniors will be heading to Delanco, Fla. to row on a lake during spring break. The men will row twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening. The freshmen will be staying behind to train with an assistant coach.
The men will row for the first time this year on water in Florida because the Schuylkill River has been frozen for much of the winter.
This week, freshman guard Feyonda Fitzgerald was named to the American Athletic Conference and Philadelphia Big 5 Honor Rolls.
Collectively, Fitzgerald has now been honored by The American and Big 5 on eight separate occasions, including four American Freshman of the Week honors, being named to the Big 5 Honor Roll three times, and making it onto the American Honor Roll once.
In Temple’s most recent game, a loss to visiting South Florida, Fitzgerald was the Owls’ offensive leader, recording 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Against the Bulls, Fitzgerald shot 8 of 21, and was perfect from the charity stripe on seven attempts.
Fitzgerald has been an offensive threat for the Owls since her first collegiate start, averaging 12.4 points and four assists, which both lead the team.
After having its first series snowed out last weekend, the baseball team was anxious to get this season – the program’s last should the cuts not be reversed – underway.
Seven Owls recorded multi-hit games as Temple stormed past Rider University 15-8 in Wilson, N.C., on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Josh Mason smacked four hits and drove in a run and senior Robert Amaro had three hits while driving in four runs.
Right off the bat, it was clear that the Owls were ready to get started.
Temple got RBI hits in the top of the first inning from Amaro, Mason, sophomore catcher Michael D’Accunti and senior outfielder Bobby Heitzman. The Owls had a 5-0 lead before pitcher Matt Hockenberry even took the mound for Temple.
Once he took to the rubber, Hockenberry was solid. The senior right-hander earned the win after going five innings, giving up six runs – three earned – and striking out two.
When he exited the game in favor of junior reliever Phil Gianakos, the score was 12-6 Temple.
Gianakos gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth but Temple answered right back in the seventh.
D’Accunti blasted a long solo home run, extending the lead to 13-8. Then in the top of the eighth, Derek Peterson and Amaro added an RBI each and the score was 15-8.
Sophomore Tim McCarthy pitched a scoreless eighth and freshman Pat Vanderslice closed out the game in the ninth.
Temple gets back on the field for a double-header on Sunday, taking on UMass-Lowell at 10 a.m. before again playing Rider at 1:30 pm.
