April 26, 2001

PHILADELPHIA, PA - On Thursday, April 26, at Richie Ashburn Field in Philadelphia, the Villanova baseball team pounded Drexel pitching for 14 runs on 12 hits on the way to a 14-3 victory over the Dragons. It was a milestone day for sophomore center fielder Chris Graziano (Hamilton, N.J./ Notre Dame) on Thursday, as he stole two bases against Drexel to break the Villanova single season stolen base record of 26 set by former Wildcat Brian Fili in 1997. Villanova improved to 20-22-1 on the season with the win, while the Dragons fell to 10-28.

Villanova started the scoring in the second inning, scoring once to take a 1-0 lead. Right fielder Brian Newbold walked with two outs and was moved over to second on an infield single by catcher Marshall Canosa. Following up his outstanding day on Wednesday, shortstop Brian Trotta singled home Newbold with a line drive to right field.

Starting on the mound for the Wildcats was sophomore John Yeager, who shut out Drexel for three innings before giving way to reliever Jason Petre in the fourth inning. Yeager (5-3) allowed just one hit in three innings, striking out two, to pick up his fifth win of the season.

Still clinging to a 1-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the fourth, Villanova looked to pad its lead against Dragon reliever Kevin Kulick. After reaching first on an error, Newbold stole second and was sacrificed to third on a bunt by Canosa. Trotta followed Canosa with a RBI groundout to shortstop to increase the Wildcat lead to 2-0. Reaching base for the first time in the game via a Drexel walk, Graziano stole second to tie Fili for the single season Villanova stolen base mark. Second baseman Matt Longo plated Graziano one batter later on a double to left field to make it a 3-0 game. Before the inning was over, Villanova added five more runs on a two-run double by third baseman Nick Piantek, and a three-run home run by designated hitter Mike Houser to take a commanding 8-0 lead.

Graziano came to the plate in the fifth inning looking to get on base to give himself an opportunity at the record-breaking theft. Singling on a bunt to third, he stood at first with the record in sight. On a 1-0 pitch, Graziano took off and stole his record-breaking 27th base of the season on just his 30th attempt.

The Wildcat offense was not done, as Cafiero came to the plate in the sixth with a runner on and Villanova holding an 8-2 advantage. On a 2-1 pitch by Kulick, he hit a long blast into the lake in left field for a two-run home run. Cafiero's two-run home run was his fourth long ball of the season and gave Villanova a 10-2 lead.

The Dragons added one run in the seventh on a RBI single by center fielder Renaldo Smith to cut the Wildcat lead to 10-3.

This day belonged to Villanova, however, as the Wildcats added four more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to the 14-3 victory. Each coming into the contest as substitutes in the late innings, Ryan Crammer, Matt Blaney, Michael Duncan and Dan Farino each posted RBI in the inning for Villanova.

Taking the loss on the mound for Drexel was starter Ryan Higgins, who gave up one run on three hits in two innings.

At the plate for the Wildcats, left fielder Dave Pizzini went three-for-four in the game to raise his team-leading batting average to .377. Also recording big days at the plate were Houser, who went one-for-three with his second home run of the season, and Cafiero and Piantek who each had two RBI in the game.

Villanova will now travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to take on the Boston College Eagles in a three-game Big East Conference series. The Wildcats will face BC in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 28 at 12:00 p.m., and a single game on Sunday, April 29, at 12:00 p.m.