April 20, 2007

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Despite breaking out the power bats to take advantage of a short left field porch, Villanova (18-16, 5-8 Big East) was defeated 11-6 on Friday evening by Pittsburgh (17-16, 9-6 Big East) in the opener of a three-game series at Trees Field. The Wildcats hit four home runs in the game but allowed 10 runs in the final five innings and lost the opener of a series for only the second time in the first five weeks of conference play.

Whereas Villanova put forth single runs in six straight innings between the second and seventh innings, the Panthers scored three times in the fifth inning to tie the game and surged ahead with five runs in the sixth inning.

Gary Bucuren had a run-scoring single and then scored the tying run in the fifth inning, while his two-run triple in the sixth helped cap a five-run rally. Pittsburgh kept the ball in the yard all evening but had 16 hits in its arsenal and at one point had 10 out of 12 batters reach base safely between the fifth and sixth innings.

The Wildcats got things started in the second inning when junior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) led off with a solo home run. His blast to center field touched off a string of four straight innings that featured solo homers by Villanova. Junior Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) went long in the third and senior Jim Gillin (Broomall, Pa.) followed suit in the fourth. Sophomore Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) added to the homer barrage with a shot down the left field line in the fifth.

By the time Cotter hit the team's fourth home run of the night, the Wildcats had a 4-1 lead thanks to senior Mike Loree (Gillette, N.J.) once again cruising through the early and middle innings of the game. Loree (5-1, 3.17 ERA) retired 11 of the first 13 batters to face him but ran into two-out trouble in both the fourth and fifth innings.

The Panthers collected seven two-out hits between those two innings, the first of which was a double by Seth Button after there were two outs and none on in the fourth. Dan Williams was next up and his single plated Button with the first Pittsburgh run of the game. Villanova got the run back in the top of the fifth but Pittsburgh was back at it in the bottom half on the way to tying the score.

Loree exited after striking out Peter Parise for the first out of the sixth inning, but Bucuren greeted sophomore Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.) with a triple to center field. Loree wound up being charged with his first loss of the season, surrendering 10 hits and eight runs (seven earned) in 5 1/3 innings.

Gillin had two hits for the Wildcats while Terpak and Cotter each had a hit and two runs scored. The home runs represented the only significant offense for Villanova, which had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position the entire night. The Wildcats were 1-for-3 (.333) with runners in scoring position and 2-for-10 (.200) with two outs. Conversely, the Panthers were 9-for-17 (.529) and 7-for-15 (.467) in those situations, respectively.

The top six hitters in the Pittsburgh lineup combined to go 13-for-27 (.481) in the game, with each having at least two hits. On the mound, Rob Brant (2-4) allowed five hits and five runs (four earned) in six innings to pick up the win. He walked one and had eight strikeouts before turning the game over to Kyle Landis, who went the final three innings for the save.

The second game of the series comes up on Saturday at 3 p.m.

NOTES: The home runs hit by Arcadia and Cotter were the first of each players' career ... Villanova has hit 15 home runs this season ... The previous four homers before the four tonight came in a span of the last 21 games ... The left field fence down the line at Trees Field is a mere 289 feet from home plate ... That is where three of the home runs were hit tonight, with the exclusion of Terpak's blast to center ... The Wildcats have only had 15 games in the last four years with even two or more home runs in a game ... Loree moved to within 13.1 innings of breaking the school's career innings pitched record ... He has now thrown 284.0 collegiate innings ... Villanova is playing its fifth conference series of the year ... The Wildcats won the opening game of series against Louisville, Seton Hall and USF and its only opening-game loss came in a three-game sweep at the hands of St. John's ... Last season the Wildcats were 2-7 in the first game of a BIG EAST series.