April 25, 2006

Box Score

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - Sophomore Ryan Wendler (Conshohocken, Pa.) extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings and Villanova (21-18) defeated Diamond Five rival Temple (7-30) on Tuesday afternoon at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Wendler struck out three and scattered just five hits with two walks in a career-high eight innings pitched.

After going down swinging in three straight at-bats in the first inning, the Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the second when freshman Matt McFolling (Chicago, Ill.) hit his first collegiate home run to right-center field. It was a two-run shot that brought home senior Jeremy Hunt (Tampa, Fla.), and Villanova never looked back. Sophomore Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) singled home a run and scored on a sacrifice fly in the third inning and the Wildcats broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Arcadia and Hunt each had two hits and two runs scored, while junior Frank Cirone (Arlington Heights, Ill.) had two doubles, including one with the bases loaded that scored two runs during the rally in the seventh inning. Villanova had 11 hits overall, reached base seven other times via a walk or hit batsman, and received some assistance with advancing runners in the form of seven wild pitches from Owl pitchers.

Meanwhile, Wendler helped the Wildcats post their fourth straight shutout against non-conference competition. He has started three of those four games, and needed to escape just one jam today to keep his scoreless streak intact. Jamie Abercrombie led off the sixth inning with a triple to right-center, but Wendler eased through the rest of the inning with two groundouts and a foul pop-up near first base.

Starting pitcher Arshwin Asjes (3-5) took the loss for Temple, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings of work. The Owls used a total of seven pitchers on the day, none of whom went longer than two innings due to the team's schedule of playing four Atlantic 10 Conference games this weekend.

With today's win, the Wildcats improve to 5-1 this season against Philadelphia Diamond Five rivals. Villanova has split two games against La Salle and owns two victories over Penn. The Wildcats will host Saint Joseph's tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. in the second meeting of the season between the teams. Villanova topped the Hawks 15-8 on March 22 in Norristown. Sophomore Jordan Ellis (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) draws the start for the Wildcats in Wednesday's afternoon. Ellis is 3-1 with a 5.63 ERA on the season and pitched five scoreless innings to defeat Coppin State in his last outing.

NOTES: Wendler has lowered his ERA nearly four runs during the scoreless streak and is now 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA for the season ... Villanova has outscored the opposition 44-0 in its last four non-conference games ... Arcadia had another stolen base in today's game and now has 14 swipes for the season ... His outstanding overall play of late continued, and he is now batting .500 (12-for-24) with 14 runs, five RBI and seven stolen bases over his last six games.