April 6, 2008

Box Score

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - A strong pitching effort for the third straight game was backed up by timely hitting and Villanova (13-15, 4-5 Big East) earned its first three-game sweep in a conference series since May, 2004 with a 5-1 win over Georgetown (11-17, 3-9 Big East) on Sunday afternoon at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.

Junior Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) made his first collegiate start and pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to earn his first career victory. He scattered six hits and walked five while striking out three and forcing the Hoyas to strand nine runners on base in the six innings in which he worked.

Carver (1-0, 2.55 ERA) exited with two on and two out in the sixth inning and senior Gus Guida (Martinsville, N.J.) induced a groundball out to end the inning. Guida wound up going 2 1/3 innings and striking out three with just one hit and one walk and senior Ryan Shockley (Seaford, Del.) pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the game.

On the offensive side, seniors Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.) each had two hits and combined to drive in all five runs for the Wildcats. After Georgetown had taken an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Villanova manufactured a two-out rally in the bottom half and scored a pair of runs on a double to left field by Dolbier.

The Wildcats extended their lead in the third inning when Terpak and Dolbier hit consecutive run-scoring singles to make the score 4-1. A sacrifice fly by Terpak in the bottom of the seventh inning provided an extra insurance run and closed out the scoring.

The starting pitchers for both teams were making their first starts of the season. Dan Godefroi (0-1) took the loss for the Hoyas, going four innings and allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) with a walk and three strikeouts.

Georgetown briefly held the lead after Sean Lamont's two-out single in the first inning provided scoring in a frame that began with two outs and nobody on. Matt Iannetta singled up the middle and Erick Fernandez drew a walk ahead of the hit by Lamont.

Offense was difficult to come by from thereafter for the Hoyas, however, who left 13 runners on base in the game. Iannetta and Fernandez finished with two hits apiece for Georgetown.

Senior Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) and juniors Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) and Wesley Borden (State College, Pa.) joined Terpak and Dolbier with multi-hit games for Villanova. Cotter went 2-for-4 with a run scored to wrap up an outstanding week in which he batted .563 (9-for-16) in five games.

The Wildcats return to action during the week with afternoon games against Penn on Tuesday and Lehigh on Wednesday. Both of those games will begin at 3:15 p.m. Following the weekday contests, Villanova will prepare to host another conference series next weekend, when it plays Notre Dame from Friday-Sunday.

NOTES: Carver made his first start for the Wildcats after 27 relief appearances over the past two-plus seasons ... The win was also the first decision he earned at Villanova ... The right-hander has allowed five earned runs over 17 2/3 innings this season ... The Wildcats last swept a three-game conference series from May 21-23, 2004 when they won the final three games of the regular season at Rutgers ... All three of those wins were one-run games ... Villanova has won a season-high five straight games overall after the weekend sweep ... The streak is the longest for the Wildcats since a six-game winning streak from April 13-22, 2006 ... In its five wins this week, Villanova outhit the opposition .335-.234 in terms of batting average and owned a 3.00 ERA compared to 6.02 for its opponents ... The Wildcats outscored the other teams it played 37-19 in the five wins ... Cotter batted .563 (9-for-16) in the five games with seven runs scored, seven RBI, two doubles, two home runs and a 1.063 slugging percentage for the week ... Borden, Dolbier, Shunk and Terpak also hit better than .400 for the week as Villanova averaged 11.0 hits per game.