April 13, 2007

Recap |  Box Score

The other walk-off wins this season for Villanova came against Cornell on March 11 (10-9) and Louisville on March 24 (1-0). The game against Cornell a home game that the Wildcats played at Hank DeVincent Field on the campus of La Salle University.

Both teams played in their first extra-inning game of the season today. Villanova won its last extra-inning affair, a 7-6 win over Cincinnati in 11 innings at home on May 4 of last season. In that game the Wildcats tied the score with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and won on a balk call in the bottom of the 11th.

Loree made his eighth start of the season and pitched at least into the seventh inning for the fifth straight outing. He went nine innings for only the second time in his career, matching his distance in a complete-game, four-hit shutout of Louisville on March 24.

With his start today, Loree moved up two spots into a tie for seventh place on the school's career list with 190 strikeouts. He also stretched his career total for innings pitched to 278.2, just seven innings away from taking over third place in school annals. Loree needs to throw just 21.1 more innings to become the first pitcher in school history with 300 career innings pitched.

USF batters were 1-for-10 (.100) against Loree with two outs, 1-for-5 (.200) against him with the bases loaded and 3-for-16 (.188) with runners on base.

Villanova scored all three of its runs with two outs in the game. For the year the Wildcats have 57 two-out RBI, compared to 61 for the opposition. Villanova was 2-for-8 (.250) with runners in scoring position in the game while USF was 2-for-10 (.200).

The only two other meetings between Villanova and USF took place in Tampa in 1975 and 1985, respectively. The Bulls played their first season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference in 2006 but did not face the Wildcats last season.

USF is the first team from the state of Florida to play a home game against Villanova at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Prior to Friday's contest, the most southern team to come to Plymouth Meeting was Savannah State in 2005.

Joe Cotter had his career-best hitting streak snapped at 10 games, while junior Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) had his hitting streak stopped at five games. Not that it mattered for either player. Shunk scored the tying run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Cotter raced home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.

The infield of Terpak (1B), Arcadia (2B), Shunk (SS) and junior Gus Guida (Martinsville, N.J.) (3B) played sparkling defense in the game. Arcadia snared a hard one-hopper with two outs in the ninth and Terpak dug out his throw to retire USF with the game still tied 2-2. Shunk showed outstanding range in the hole fielding a ground ball in the 10th and Guida made a strong throw across the diamond for the last out of the eighth inning.

The Wildcats last win over a team from the state of Florida was also a memorable one. On March 4, 2005, Villanova routed then-No. 8 Florida 11-1 in Gainesville in the opener of a three-game series.

Mike Loree and Danny Otero may have been pitching against each other for the first time, but the two certainly weren't strangers. In the summer of 2005 both pitchers were in the starting rotation for the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Loree made six starts and Otero seven for a Newport team that won the league title.

Loree has allowed three earned runs or less in every one of his eight starts this season.

Villanova won for only the third time this season when its bullpen gets the decision (3-6).

The Wildcats have now won the first game in three of their first four BIG EAST series this season. Villanova didn't win the first game of any league series until the fifth series of the conference season in 2006.