March 31, 2007

Box Score

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - Junior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) drove in five runs and the offensive highlights took center stage on Saturday afternoon as Villanova (12-9, 3-2 Big East) slugged past Seton Hall (7-14, 0-5 Big East) at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. The Wildcats will look for a sweep of the three-game series in the finale on Sunday, when the teams meet at 11 a.m. A threat of rain later in the afternoon has caused the time of Sunday's game to be moved up one hour.

Terpak blooped a two-run single into right field in the first inning and helped spark Villanova to a 5-1 edge after the first two innings. The Wildcats later held a tenuous 5-3 advantage before plating 10 runs in their final four times at the plate. Terpak rounded out his day with a two-run double in the fifth inning and finished with three hits, two runs, two walks and the five runs batted in.

Junior James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.) and sophomore Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) each had two hits and two RBI for Villanova, whose 13 hits were nearly outdone by the 12 walks issued to the team. Sophomore Joe Rosati (Havertown, Pa.) reached base four times with a hit, walk and two times being hit by a pitch. He scored three times as the top six in the Wildcat lineup combined to go 9-for-22 with nine walks and 10 runs scored.

Villanova knocked out the opposing starting pitcher in the second inning for the second straight day, as Sean Black allowed four hits and five earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. Matt Smedberg had three hits and three runs scored for the Pirates and Chris Affiniti hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth.

Starting pitcher Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) went six innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters to even his record at 2-2 on the season. Hoffman had at least one struck out in every inning and matched a season-best by going six full innings. Sophomore Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) and senior Nate Hall (Longmont, Colo.) combined to go the final three innings, with the only hit off the pair being the home run that Hall gave up to Affinito in the ninth.

The final game of the series will be played on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. The start time has been moved up one hour due to a chance of rain later in the day.

NOTES: The combined length of the first two games in the series is exactly 7 ½ hours ... Today's marathon affair lasted 3:57 and featured 417 pitches thrown in 97 plate appearances by the two teams ... Neither side recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the game ... Villanova has drawn 19 walks in the first two games and Seton Hall has gotten just seven outs from its two starting pitchers thus far in the series ... The 15 runs scored by the Wildcats are the most they have scored in a BIG EAST game since also getting 15 runs in a 15-10 win over Pittsburgh on May 6, 2001 ... The last time Villanova scored more than 15 runs in a conference game came during a 16-4 victory over Georgetown on April 16, 2000 ... The Wildcats stranded 13 runners in the game and the Pirates left 11 men on base ... Villanova has not swept a three-game conference series since ending the 2004 season with a sweep of Rutgers at home.