Ryan Thomas (Courtesy of Temple Media Relations)
AMBLER, PA – Junior Ryan Thomas won two games on the mound, striking out nine batters in six innings, to earn MVP honors for the Cherry team in a 4-2 series victory over White in the Temple Baseball Fall Classic, contested over the past two weeks at Skip Wilson Field. The righthander allowed two earned runs in six innings for the Cherry team.
Game 1
Cherry 4, White 0
Cherry scored four runs in the first inning and rode the arm of Thomas to open up a 1-0 series lead. Senior Sean Barksdale had an RBI single in the frame and classmate Steve Mury added a sacrifice fly. Thomas struck out five in three innings for the win.
Game 2
Cherry 5, White 3
Four of Cherry’s seven hits went for extra bases, including three triples, in a 5-3 extra inning victory over White. Sophomore Ryan Ferguson led off the fourth with a double and scored on sophomore Rafael Cordero’s triple. Senior Jamie Abercrombie then followed with an RBI triple to give Cherry the lead for good.
Game 3
White 5, Cherry 1
White won its first game with a five-run fourth inning to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the series. Senior Kyle Obal had two hits to lead White, including a two-run double in the fourth. Sophomore Steve Nikorak got the win with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Game 4
White 4, Cherry 3
White scored four runs in the third inning to even the series in game four. A pair of walks, two errors, and two hit batters provided most of the damage for White.
Game 5
Cherry 1, White 0
Abercrombie drove in Barksdale in the first for Cherry, who received two scoreless innings from Thomas in a 1-0 victory. Thomas struck out four and allowed one hit.
Game 6
Cherry 5, White 2
Cherry scored four runs in the fourth inning to score the series championship. Consecutive hits by Abercrombie, senior Steve Mury and sophomore Ben Flanary provided the offense for Cherry in the frame.
“We had a lot of fun with the games,” head coach Rob Valli said. “Despite weather concerns, there was a great crowd of family and friends out to support our program. We are definitely a much better team today than we were eight weeks ago.”
Temple opens the 2009 season against Wichita State at the Florida Gulf Coast Classic on February 20.
