But when the Leopards had to come through under pressure late in Friday’s second game to avoid a potentially crushing sweep against seventh-place Ranger College, that’s exactly what they did.
After Temple lost the opener 3-1 and squandered a 6-2 lead in the finale to face a 7-6 deficit entering its last time at bat, Ryan Meade delivered a two-run double and Thad Zentek added a sacrifice fly to help lift the Leopards to a 9-7 victory that preserved their outright lead in the NTJCAC.
“There were some negative things today, but the positive thing was that we battled and got a split and salvaged three of four against those guys,” McMurtry said. “Hopefully we can build off of that.”
After winning 12 of its first 14 conference games to take a commanding lead, Temple (31-12) has split its last four league doubleheaders and is 16-6 in the NTJCAC, good for a one-game lead against Cisco and a two-game edge over North Central Texas.
But even though they remain in favorable position to earn an eighth consecutive NJCAA Region V Tournament berth, the Leopards’ recent struggles have prevented them from pulling away as they pursue their first NTJCAC title.
“We’re not a team that’s relaxed right now,” McMurtry said. “Sometimes we’re pressing, and you can’t play if you’re not confident.
“I knew it was inevitable that we’d come back down to earth, and we have struggled a little bit,” he added. “Now we get a bye and hopefully we’ll come back and get after it and finish with a strong run.”
In Friday’s seven-inning opener, each team scored in only one inning. TC got on the board in the first when Mike Lowery led off with a single and scored on Michael De La Rosa’s two-out single.
Holland product Paul Spinn carried that 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth, but Ranger (18-20, 8-12) used two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs.
The Rangers tied it when TC bobbled the ball on a potential double-play grounder, and with two outs and men on second and third Spinn (6-2) allowed a two-run single to Stuart MacInnes to give Ranger a 3-1 lead before it finished the Leopards in the seventh.
McMurtry said Temple’s offense hurt itself on a day with a strong wind blowing in by flying out 12 times.
The Leopards figured to have a big advantage in the nine-inning finale behind freshman left-hander Lee Colon, who came in with wins in all eight of his collegiate starts and a 1.32 earned-run average.
But after TC scored four second-inning runs to go up 5-0 and added a run in the fifth for a 6-2 lead, Ranger came alive with two runs in the seventh and then scored three in the eighth against Korey Wacker (Harker Heights) to grab a 7-6 advantage.
The Leopards responded in the ninth, however, putting two men on base before Meade - who pushed his team-leading RBI total to 49 - ripped a triple to right-center field for an 8-7 TC lead. Zentek then brought home another run with a flyout and Chad McLin pitched the ninth to save the win for Stevie Kirks (4-3), who threw one pitch in the eighth.
“It was a good comeback and right now we’ll take any win we can get,” McMurtry said.
TC will play a single non-conference game against Navarro at 2 p.m. Monday in Corsicana before the Leopards host Weatherford for a 3 p.m. doubleheader next Saturday.
