May 11, 2008

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - With the season on the line for both teams and the tension mounting with each passing inning in a close game, the steady pitching of senior Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) gave Villanova (27-23, 11-13 Big East) the edge in a 2-1 victory over Rutgers (22-27-1, 10-14 Big East) on Sunday afternoon at Bainton Field. With the victory, the Wildcats win the series against the Scarlet Knights, pass them in the standings for the first time this season and gain a potentially important tiebreaker against their longtime rivals with three regular season games remaining.

Hoffman (5-1, 6.52 ERA) scattered eight hits and struck out eight without walking a batter in his second career complete game, and the second in as many games by a Villanova pitcher. He retired the leadoff man in all nine innings to avoid the potential for big rallies by Rutgers and made a key pickoff in the seventh inning to erase a runner at third base with one out.

The Wildcats manufactured a run in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead and then went back ahead 2-1 in the top of the fifth after the Scarlet Knights had tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Hoffman took care of the rest, using a big ballpark with the wind blowing in to his advantage along the way to generating 11 fly-ball outs, none of which carried as far as the warning track in the outfield. He also blended his fastball with a big curveball that he consistently threw for strikes to keep the opposing hitters off balance. Hoffman threw better than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes in the game.

Senior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) singled to lead off the second inning, stole second base and then advanced to third on a groundball out by classmate James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.). Junior Wesley Borden (State College, Pa.) then chopped a ball up the middle that was deflected in time to get an out at first base, but Terpak came home on the play to score the game's opening run.

After Rutgers tied the score in the bottom of the fourth, starting pitcher Kyle Bradley (1-3, 4.73 ERA) retired the first two hitters in the top of the fifth. However, freshman Dain Hall (Barrington, Ill.) jumpstarted a rally with a single through the left side and juniors Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) and Matt McFolling (Chicago, Ill.) waited out the only walks of the game by Bradley to load the bases. Junior Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) followed with a run-scoring infield hit to give Villanova the lead for good.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Mike Lang was hit by a pitch with one out, stole second and advanced to third on Vinnie Sangemino's single through the left side. With runners at first and third with one out, Hoffman and the Wildcat infield successfully executed a fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff move. Sangemino was caught in a rundown between first and second, but Carver - with the ball at first base - ran across the infield to chase Lang and eventually throw him out at the plate for the second out. Hoffman then got leadoff man Donny Callahan to fly out for the final out of the inning.

Villanova was outhit 8-4 in the game but stranded just four men on base compared to eight for the Scarlet Knights. The single by Terpak leading off the second inning extended his string of consecutive games reaching base to 28 in a row.

Rutgers got its run when Luis Feliz doubled after there were two outs and none on in the bottom of the fourth and Lang followed with a single up the middle. Sangemino had the only multi-hit game of the day with a 2-for-3 afternoon, while six other players had one hit for the Scarlet Knights.

Villanova hosts Temple on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. and then hosts St. John's from Thursday through Saturday in a three-game series to close out the regular season. The Wildcats magic number to clinch a second straight postseason berth is two - meaning Villanova can clinch a spot in the eight-team BIG EAST Championship with any combination of two victories against the Red Storm or two losses by Rutgers in their series at Louisville. A full set of postseason scenarios will be available on www.villanova.com on Monday morning.