Villanova University

April 1, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - Junior Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) became the first player to hit two home runs in a game in the history of the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth and senior Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) lined a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning in a 10-9 victory for Villanova (9-15) on Tuesday afternoon over La Salle (4-23).

The Wildcats made their first home game in more than two weeks a memorable one, as they first rallied from an early four-run deficit and then escaped with a victory after surrendering a three-run lead in the top of the ninth. Cotter's two home runs established a new first in the 117th game played at the ballpark.

Cotter led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run over the fence in center field to immediately start Villanova on its way back after the Explorers scored four runs in the top half of the inning. Cotter doubled home a run in the bottom of the second inning and tied the game 5-5 with a two-run blast to right-center field in the fifth inning.

Senior James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.) hit a two-run homer in the fifth to give the Wildcats a 7-5 lead and Villanova led 9-6 going to the ninth. La Salle rallied with three runs in the ninth to tie the score and force the Wildcats to win in their final at-bat.

Junior Wesley Borden (State College, Pa.) led off the bottom of the ninth with a long double to left field and classmate Joe Rosati (Havertown, Pa.) flied out to center field to move pinch runner Tim Poydenis (Vero Beach, Fla.) over to third base. Arcadia fell into a 1-and-2 hole but drove a ball through the left side to give Villanova its second win of the season over the Explorers.

Dolbier had four of the Wildcats 13 hits in the game and Cotter finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and five RBI to raise his season average to a team-high mark of .317. Borden and Arcadia added two hits apiece and Villanova drew five walks and was hit by a pitch three times.

Junior Ryan Shockley (Seaford, Del.) registered the final two outs of the ninth inning and earned his first career victory in his sixth straight scoreless outing of the season. Starting pitcher Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) recovered form the rocky first inning to go five-plus innings and strike out eight batters. He ended up throwing more than 70 percent of his pitches for strikes and junior Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Justin Handler, John Malloy and John Rickards each had two hits for La Salle. Malloy and Mike Dertouzos had run-scoring singles in the first inning and Handler hit a solo home run in the second. In the ninth inning, pinch hitter RJ Hollinshead singled to right field to score the second run of the frame and - when the ball got away from Dolbier - the tying run scored to knot the game 9-9 and leave runners at the corners with still just one out.

Two of the three runs charged to senior Gus Guida (Martinsville, N.J.) in the ninth were unearned due to two errors in the inning. Shockley entered with the game tied 9-9 and struck out Chris Crawford before getting a fly ball out to end the inning.

The Wildcats began a 12-game homestand with this afternoon's contest and will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon with a 3:15 p.m. contest against Coppin State.