March 7, 2008

Box Score

BRADENTON, Fla. - Despite coming up just short on the last day of its spring break trip, Villanova welcomed a promising first for the season in a game fueled by the type of strong pitching and defense that so often is the trademark of Wildcat baseball. Villanova (2-7) was defeated by Western Michigan (7-2) on Wednesday morning at Academy Park in a game that took just 1 hour and 50 minutes to complete.

Sophomore Brian Streilein (Staten Island, N.Y.) and senior Gus Guida (Martinsville, N.J.) limited the Broncos to just five hits on the day, but four of those came in the sixth inning when Western Michigan scored all three of its runs. By comparison, the Wildcats had eight hits but spread them over six different at-bats.

After Streilein had retired the first 11 batters he faced and allowed just one hitter to reach base through the first four innings, Villanova took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth when junior Wesley Borden (State College, Pa.) doubled with one out and scored on a double one pitch later by classmate Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.).

Carver and freshman Dain Hall (Barrington, Ill.) each had two hits for the Wildcats and Streilein went seven strong innings in his first start of the season. He struck out nine and allowed just one walk and five hits in his outing, during which he retired the side in order four times and allowed just one runner in two other innings. Guida pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

The Broncos set the table in the sixth inning with a leadoff single by Grant Simotes and a walk to Zach Gentile. With one out, Chris Lewis and Matthew Abro delivered consecutive run-scoring singles to first tie the game and then give Western Michigan the lead. Neal Miller singled with two outs and was thrown out trying to take second but he was not tagged until after a third run had crossed the plate.

Lewis had two hits for the Broncos and Ross Westdorp picked up the win. Westdorp allowed six hits through seven innings and struck out four with no walks. Derek Mosher registered the final five outs for and picked up a save.

Villanova attempted a late rally after there were two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning. Carver was hit by a pitch and Hall extended the game with a single up the middle before Mosher got a fly ball to end the game.

The Wildcats now return home and will play their first games of the season at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth this weekend. Villanova plays Hartford on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in what will be the first game of this weekend's Villanova Baseball Classic.

NOTES: The Wildcats are also scheduled to take on Wagner on Saturday and Cornell on Sunday, although this weekend's schedule will be dependent on the forecast for rain during the weekend ... On the days that Hartford, Wagner and Cornell do not play against Villanova, they will play locally against either La Salle or Temple ... Those games are also part of this weekend's tournament.