George Washington University Athletics
Temple Defeats Baseball, 11-6, To Capture Atlantic 10 Championship
5/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2001
Temple Defeats Baseball, 11-6, To Capture Atlantic 10 Championship Colonials lose after forcing decisive game earlier in the day
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL (May 19, 2001) - Junior rightfielder Joe Lyall's two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning was part of a three-run inning that broke open the game as third-seeded Temple defeated the fourth-seed Colonials, 11-6, to claim the 2001 Verizon Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship. The Colonials forced the decisive game after defeating the Owls, 10-8, earlier in the day. The Colonials end the season with an overall record of 38-23, a new school record for victories in a season.
After falling behind, 6-1, in the second game, the Colonials rallied to cut the lead to 6-5. GW got two runs in the fifth on an error by the Owls to cut the lead to 6-3. In the top of the sixth the Colonials narrowed the lead even further on an RBI double by sophomore Jake Wald (Alexandria, VA/ T.C. Williams) and another Temple error.
The Owls responded with the three-run sixth inning to push the lead to 9-5 and the Colonials, after winning three straight games to reach this point, finally ran out of answers.
In the first game, sophomore Tony Dokoupil (Severna Park, MD/ Severna Park) singled home junior Mike Bassett (Paramus, NJ/ Paramus) in the bottom of the eighth inning and scored when senior Dan Rouhier (McLean, VA/ St. Alban's) doubled as the Colonials defeated Temple to force the seventh game of the weekend. Senior Bryan Beggs (Somerset, PA/ Somerset) pitched an inning and two thirds to pick up his second victory of the season.
Wald, Rouhier, Bassett, redshirt junior Travis Crowder (Manassas, VA/ Osbourn) and freshman Jeff Fertitta (Baltimore, MD/ Loyola Blakefield) were all named to the 2001 Verizon Atlantic 10 All-Championship team after leading the Colonials to within one game of their first Atlantic 10 Championship since 1992.
