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Wildcats Take on Louisville at 10 a.m. in Semifinals of BIG EAST Championship
May 23, 2008
Updated Villanova Game Notes
CLEARWATER, Fla.-- Villanova has advanced to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship for the first time since it played in the championship game in 1997 and will take on No. 4 seed Louisville today at 10 a.m. in its second straight elimination game. If the Wildcats win the 10 a.m. game, they will play the Cardinals again at 5 p.m. in an elimination game for both teams and with a spot in tomorrow's championship game on the line.
Villanova has gotten here by winning of two of three games in the tournament thus far, while Louisville has won both of its contests. The Wildcats knocked out No. 5 seed Seton Hall yesterday with a 10-0 victory that actually was the closest of the three games Villanova has played so far in the tournament. The Wildcats opened on Tuesday with a 12-0 win over top-seed St. John's and then fell to Louisville 14-3 on Wednesday evening.
This marks the second straight year that the tournament's lowest seed has advanced at least to the semifinals. Last season, No. 8 seed Connecticut advanced to the championship game before narrowly falling to eventual champion Rutgers, 7-6. In fact, the lowest seeded team in the tournament field has reached the championship game in three of the last four seasons.
The run to the semifinals has been an impressive one for the Wildcats, who flourished down the stretch after starting regular season conference play with a 5-12 record. Villanova won seven of its final 10 regular season league games and rallied from seven runs down in the final inning against St. John's during the final weekend of the season to clinch its second straight berth in the BIG EAST Championship.
In their 11th appearance in the conference tournament, the Wildcats have now won at least two games six times. Villanova advanced to the championship game in five of its first 10 appearances in the tournament, winning titles in both 1989 and 1991. This season marks the first time since the 1991 championship year that Villanova was the last team standing in the tournament among itself, St. John's and Seton Hall. The three schools combined to win the first five and six of the first seven conference titles between 1985 and 1991.
The pitching matchup for Friday morning's game is likely to feature junior Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.) pitching against Louisville senior Zack Pitts. Eidell will be making his first start since February 29 against Western Michigan. After two rough outings to begin the season in the starting rotation, Eidell was shifted to the closer role and has since gone 4-3 with a 1.73 ERA in 19 relief outings. During that stretch, Eidell has had several successful extended outings, going at least four innings in a game on four different occasions.
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