May 10, 2008

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - A one-out single by Jon Gossard in the bottom of the 12th inning ended a long opening game in a Saturday doubleheader and lifted Rutgers (22-25-1, 10-12 Big East) to a 5-4 victory over Villanova (25-23, 9-13 Big East) at Bainton Field. The opening game of the twin-bill was also the first of a three-game series between the teams, who began the weekend tied for eighth place and the final playoff spot in the BIG EAST standings.

Both teams had chances to bring across a go-ahead run before the bottom of the 12th in a game that featured a combined 19 runners stranded on base. The sides also combined to go 4-for-22 (.182) with runners in scoring position before Gossard's hit broke the deadlock in the second recent meeting between the nearby schools that went 12 innings, ended in a 5-4 score, and had a team's season riding on the line.

Luis Feliz dropped a single into shallow center field on the first pitch in the bottom of the 12th inning and Dan Betteridge sacrificed him to second. After an intentional walk to Jaren Matthews created the potential for a double play, Gossard lined a 1-and-1 pitch into the right-center field gap to score the winning run.

Earlier in the game, the Wildcats saw a 2-0 lead erased but went back in front when senior Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) hit a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 4-3 in favor of Villanova. The Wildcats scored twice in the third inning and twice in the seventh, getting all their runs in frames that began with two outs and nobody on. Shunk accounted for three of the four runs, as he also was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the game's opening run in the top of the third.

Villanova carried a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning but a heads-up base-running play allowed the Scarlet Knights to find an equalizer. Jarred Jimenez singled to lead off the inning and Feliz laid down a sacrifice bunt on the third base side. Jimenez took second on the bunt and then raced to an empty third base before the Wildcat infielders could get back in position. That put him in position to score the tying run on Mike Lang's sacrifice fly moments later.

Senior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) singled home the second run in the top of the third inning after missing a grand slam by just a few feet one pitcher earlier when his fly ball down the left field line curved foul as it sailed over the fence. He instead hit a line drive off the hand of Rutgers starting pitcher Matt Giannini that gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead - the largest margin of the game between the teams. Junior Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) and senior Ryan Arcadia (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) joined Terpak with two-hit games for Villanova.

Matthews got the Scarlet Knights on the board in the bottom half of the third with a solo home run. In the bottom of the sixth, Vinnie Sangemino and Donny Callahan delivered run-scoring singles off of senior Jordan Ellis (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) that gave Rutgers a 3-2 advantage.

Ellis rebounded from those runs in the sixth inning to easily pitch a 1-2-3 seventh inning, which loomed large as the game continued on into extra innings. Ellis worked around six walks to go seven full frames and allow three runs on five hits while striking out four.

In a sight becoming familiar to Wildcat fans - closer Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.) entered in the bottom of the eighth inning and extended his outing the rest of the way. The only real blemish against him was the walk-off hit by Gossard, as the tying run that Jimenez scored in the bottom of the eighth was a result of his own smart base-running. Eidell (3-5, 5.14 ERA) was charged with two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, during which he had three strikeouts and one intentional walk.

Gossard and Callahan each had two hits for the Scarlet Knights, who wound up with a slim 9-8 edge in the hits column.

Giannini went 5 1/3 innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out three. Kevin Lillis allowed the home run to Shunk in the seventh inning and eventually Ryan Beard (2-4, 3.24 ERA) entered in the ninth and went the distance. He allowed just one hit, walked two and struck out five.

Villanova ran itself out of a potentially big inning in the top of the first after Cotter singled to left-center field to lead off the game and Arcadia laid down his fourth bunt single of the year. Rutgers got the force at third base on a bunt attempt by Shunk and three pitches later turned a double play when Shunk was caught stealing and Arcadia was thrown out at the plate trying to score while Shunk was in a rundown.

The Wildcats made up for that inning by scoring twice after there had been two outs and nobody on in the top of the third inning. Junior Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) worked a walk and Cotter followed with his second hit of the game. Villanova waited out Giannini for a walk to Arcadia that loaded the bases and then plated the first run when Shunk was hit by a pitch to force home Carver. Terpak followed with his first hit of the game and a 2-0 lead.

Ellis walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning but escaped the jam with a pop-up that was caught by Arcadia in shallow right field.

The second game of the doubleheader began at 4:20 p.m.

NOTES: Last season the Wildcats defeated the Scarlet Knights 5-4 in 12 innings at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth in the second game of a three-game series during the final weekend of the regular season ... The win clinched the first playoff appearance in a decade for Villanova and was the lone win for the Wildcats in four meetings against Rutgers last season ... Incidentally, the Scarlet Knights topped Villanova 12-6 in the final regular season game the next day to clinch a share of the conference regular season title.