The hot-hitting Leopards continued their torrid start to the season Wednesday afternoon, using a four-run fifth inning to surge ahead of Angelina for a 9-5 win before exploding for an 11-run third and a seven-run fourth en route to a 19-4 victory and a sweep of the Roadrunners at Danny Scott Sports Complex.
On Monday, TC clubbed 14 home runs on the road as it swept Wharton County 16-6, 13-2 in a pair of games shortened by the run rule.
The Leopards (6-0) didn’t hit any homers on a cool, sunny day against Angelina (0-4), but they did crank out 36 hits - 11 doubles - while batting in only 10 innings.
“It was just a good day and the guys really swung the bats,” said McMurtry, whose team has outscored opponents 71-20. “Down there we had 14 home runs, then today we had no home runs, but we had 36 hits and a lot of doubles. I’m happy that we executed and did a lot of the little things.
“Things are going pretty well and we’re going to ride it as long as we can,” he added. “We want to keep improving on things and hopefully build some confidence.”
In the doubleheader’s first game, TC lost a pair of early leads but made its move in the fifth, getting consecutive run-scoring singles from Darren Crabtree, Pedro Maldonado and Doug Oney in a four-run outburst that gave freshman left-handed starter Lee Colon (1-0) his first career victory.
Although the finale turned into a complete romp, it took the Leopards a while to get going. Angelina got to freshman lefty Korey Wacker, (Harker Heights), making his first start, for two runs in the top of the second inning and one in the third for a 3-1 lead.
However, Temple quickly went from two runs down to running away with the win.
Kyle Zdunkewicz led off with a double and scored when Michael De La Rosa reached on an error. Maldonado and Zach Cohen had back-to-back RBI singles for a 4-3 lead, then Garrett Raburn hit an RBI double, Zdunkewicz stroked a two-run single, Michael Haynes had an RBI single and Thad Zentek ripped a two-run double to make it 10-3.
Maldonado’s two-run single completed the 11-run outburst to give the Leopards a commanding 12-3 advantage, and they removed all doubt by adding seven runs in the fourth. Stevie Kirks (1-0) entered in the third and got the win.
Temple had to scrape its way to the victory in Game 1.
The Leopards got off to a promising start, with Haynes, Zentek and De La Rosa getting consecutive singles in the bottom of the first before Ryan Meade chopped a hard grounder past the third baseman to bring in two runners for a 2-0 advantage.
However, Angelina righty Cory Benavides got a strikeout and a groundout to strand two runners in scoring position.
Said McMurtry: “We left some guys on base when we had opportunities to blow it open.”
The Roadrunners grabbed the upper hand in the second. An error and a squibbed single put two men on before Chris Andreas launched a Colon pitch over the wall in left-center field for a 3-2 lead.
A Payton Wisener single in the second drove in Oney for a 3-3 tie, and Meade led off the third with a double to center before Maldonado’s RBI single put TC ahead 4-3.
Colon, who struck out six batters, seemingly threw only three bad pitches in his five innings. Andreas hit a solo homer to center in the fourth for a 4-4 tie, and Greg Garcia homered to left in the fifth for a 5-4 Angelina advantage.
The Leopards got Colon off the hook in their half of the fifth, with Haynes and Zentek leading off with sharp singles before De La Rosa’s sacrifice bunt attempt went for a single to load the bases. Meade struck out, but Crabtree’s slow-roller single tied it and Maldonado ripped a single off the first baseman’s glove for a 7-5 lead.
Oney’s safety-squeeze bunt single brought in Crabtree to make it 8-5, and Chad McLin and Sam Cordero each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to finish off the Roadrunners.
“Early in the season you want to see how the guys handle certain things, and I thought they responded real well in the first game,” McMurtry said.
Temple will play a doubleheader at Texarkana at 2 p.m. Saturday, with Holland graduate Paul Spinn (1-0) and Jake Bidelman - back from Tommy John surgery - set to be the starting pitchers.
gwille@temple-telegram.com
