May 20, 2006

Box Score

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - The 141st season of varsity baseball was put in the books on Saturday afternoon, as Villanova (27-27, 8-18 Big East) was defeated 12-1 by Notre Dame (41-14-1, 21-5-1) on Senior Day at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Before the game, the Wildcats honored seven seniors who played in their final home games today.

The Fighting Irish scored three times in the top of the first inning - including two unearned runs - and their lead was never threatened as Notre Dame completed the three-game sweep. Villanova finishes the season with an even .500 record and surpassed 24 wins for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.

Jeremy Barnes and Sean Gaston had run-scoring singles in the first inning and Steve Andres hit a sacrifice fly. An error on a sacrifice bunt early in the inning allowed two runners to move up an extra base, leading indirectly to the second and third runs of the inning.

Freshman starting pitcher Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.) worked out of trouble in the second and third innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the second, but the Fighting Irish added a single run in the top of the fourth inning and scored two more unearned runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 6-1.

Senior Darren Griffith (Edison, N.J.) led off the bottom of the third inning with a single and wisely took second base on a long foul fly out down the right field line. That put him in position to score on a single by sophomore Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.), who drove in his third run of the weekend with a single to right-center field.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, seniors Kris Molloy (Hillsborough, N.J.) and Craig Mirsky (Holland, Pa.) each singled, but Notre Dame turned a double play in between those hits to prevent a Wildcat rally from materializing.

Mirsky and Molloy each had two hits to lead Villanova, which received six of its eight hits from seniors on the afternoon. Griffith also had a hit and redshirt junior Jim Gillin (Broomall, Pa.) singled as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Jeremy Hunt (Tampa, Fla.) was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 33 consecutive games.

Eidell (2-5, 4.83 ERA) allowed nine hits and six runs in six innings pitched. Only two of the runs were earned, while he walked one and struck out one. Three Wildcat relievers combined to work the final three innings.

Craig Cooper had three hits, two runs scored and two RBI for the Fighting Irish. He became the Big East all-time hit leader with his third hit of the game. Gaston and Evan Sharpley had two hits and two runs scored apiece for Notre Dame, while Alex Nettey went 2-for-4 with a run scored and run batted in. Starting pitcher Tom Thornton (6-2, 3.79) allowed one run on six hits in five innings of work, walking none and striking out two. With the Fighting Irish preparing for the Big East Tournament next week, four relievers each worked one inning of relief.