Feb. 18, 2007

Recap |  Box Score

The Wildcats have played a three-game series against Norfolk State in each of the past four seasons, and are 10-2 against the Spartans during that span. Villanova opened the season by winning a series from Norfolk State for the second straight season.

Junior Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) and sophomore Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) were the only two Wildcats who had at least one hit in each of the three games on the weekend. Cotter batted .625 (5-for-8) while Arcadia hit .308 (4-for-13).

The 11 runs scored in the sixth inning by the Spartans put the game well out of reach of a potential Villanova comeback. On Saturday the Wildcats trailed 7-3 after six innings but scored six unanswered runs and won the game 9-7.

During the first two games of the series, Villanova was a combined 8-for-26 (.308) with runners in scoring position and 10-for-35 (.286) with runners on base. Those averages shrunk to .111 (1-for-9) and .188 (3-for-16) in those respective situations on Sunday.

The Wildcats had at least nine hits in each of the three games this weekend and batted .287 in the series. Villanova totaled 31 hits and had a .350 on-base percentage while stealing seven bases in the three games. Norfolk State batted .257 and stole just one base in two attempts.

A key statistic for the Wildcats in the three-game series was the team's ability to score runners from third base with less than two outs. Villanova got the runner home in 7-of-8 (88%) of these situations this weekend.

The series against Alabama next weekend will mark the second time in the last three years that the Wildcats take on a team from the Southeastern Conference. Villanova played a three games against Florida in 2005, winning the first game 11-2 over the eighth-ranked Gators before losing a pair of one-run games to a team that eventually wound up in the final series of the College World Series that season.