NEWARK, DE -- Junior centerfielder Brandon Menchaca led off the ninth with a home run to tie the game, and Alex Buchholz’ drive to rightfield with the bases loaded and no one out in the 10th won it as the University of Delaware baseball team downed Temple University, 7-6, in 10 innings on Tuesday afternoon at blustery Bob Hannah Stadium.

Buchholz had three hits and two RBI for the Blue Hens (14-16), while Menchaca (right) and Ryan Jablonski each had two hits. Steve Spiese struck out four in two innings to earn his first win as a Blue Hen. Four of Temple’s six runs reached base as the result of hit batters.

Temple (11-22) got three hits but did not score in the first. After Stan Orzechowski led off with a single, he was thrown out trying to steal second. After another hit and a fielder’s choice, a third hit left runners on first and second with two outs. Blue Hen starter Todd Ozog then hit Sean Barksdale on a
3-2 pitch to load the bases, but Dan Brady flew out to center on the first pitch to end the inning.

Temple got on the board in the second. Ozog hit second baseman Matt Heltz, who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a single by Orzechowski. After a Delaware error, Ozog hit his third batter of the game to load the bases. He then got Mike Kelch to ground out to short to end the inning and leave the bases loaded for the second straight inning.

After getting the first two outs in the fourth inning, Blue Hen reliever Kevin Brown walked the bases loaded before getting Kelch to ground out to second on a 3-2 pitch to leave the bases loaded for the Owls for the third time in the first four innings.

In the fifth the Owls went up 3-0. After loading the bases with no one out, Heltz grounded into a double play to bring in the second run. Kyle Obal then flared a single to shallow rightfield that scored Tom Dolan for a three run lead.

Delaware took its first lead in the bottom of the fifth. With two on and one out, Jablonski’s double to rightcenter scored Danny Overcash and put runners on second and third with one out. Menchaca followed with a sacrifice fly to score Kyle Davis, then Buchholz and Bryan Hagerich followed with hits to score the tying and go-ahead runs.

Temple tied the game and took the lead back in the seventh. With runners on second and third and one out, a wild pitch scored Dan Brady with the fourth run and a double by Kyle Obal scored Devon Swope with the tying run. Obal later scored on a single by Orzechowski to give the Owls a 6-5 lead.

Menchaca led off the ninth inning by homering over the scoreboard in right to tie the game. Buchholz and Hagerich followed with singles, and after Adam Tsakonas popped out, Bill Merkler walked to load the bases. Overcash struck out for the second out, and the Hens appeared to win the game when a pitch up and in to Ryan Engelhardt appeared to hit off his jersey. However, the pitch was ruled a ball and not a hit batsmen, and Engelhardt flew out to left to force the game into extra innings.

Spiese put the Owls down in order in the 10th and then Davis led off with a walk, Jablonski reached second when his sac bunt was thrown away. After Menchaca was walked intentionally to load the bases with no one out, Buchholz drove Kyle Monahan’s first pitch to right field for his third hit of the day, and Davis waltzed home with the winning run.

Spiese picked up the win to move to 1-1, while Monahan took the loss to fall to 1-2.

The Hens return to action this weekend when they travel to Old Dominion to take on the Monarchs in a CAA series.

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