May 22, 2008

Box Score

Tournament Headquarters: www.bigeastbaseball.com
Video highlights of today's game

CLEARWATER, Fla.-- Senior Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) tossed a five-hit shutout and Villanova (30-26) advanced to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship with a 10-0 win over No. 5 seed Seton Hall (31-25) on Thursday at Bright House Field.

The Wildcats will play No. 4 seed Louisville (39-19) on Friday morning at 10 a.m. in their second straight elimination game. If Villanova wins it will play the Cardinals again tomorrow at 5 p.m. in an elimination game for both teams with a spot in Saturday's conference championship game on the line.

The last five starts Hoffman (6-1, 6.12 ERA) has made have all resulted in Villanova wins down the stretch of the season. His effort on Thursday was a career best, though it was also his second complete game effort in his last three starts. Hoffman logged his first career shutout, struck out a season-high nine batters and buckled down to limit the Pirates to going 1-for-13 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The offensive output for the Wildcats was more than enough to support Hoffman. Villanova plated four runs in the fourth inning to break open a 1-0 game and then padded a six-run lead with four more runs in the ninth. Junior Wesley Borden (State College, Pa.) broke out of a recent slump to drive in three runs with a single and double, while senior James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.) and freshman Dain Hall (Barrington, Ill.) drove in two runs apiece.

Big defensive plays by the Wildcats in the fourth and eighth innings helped prevent Seton Hall from starting any serious rallies. After Villanova took a 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth, A.J. Rusbarsky singled to open the bottom half of the inning. Two outs later, Mark Pappas hit a fly ball to deep left field that was caught by senior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) as he leaped into the wall to make the catch and rob Pappas of an extra-base hit.

In the eighth inning, Dan Lopez singled to start the inning and the Pirates had a leadoff man on for the fourth time in the game. Rusbarsky was up next and lined a hard ground ball down the first base line. Without waiting for the ball to be ruled fair or foul, first baseman Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.) scooped the ball up, touched first and then threw to second to throw out Lopez and complete a nifty double play.

Hoffman proved to be plenty adept at escaping his own potential jams too. In the fifth inning he issued walks to Matt Smedberk and Matt Skopak around a strikeout to Tim McCann. After walking Skopak he fell behind the ninth place hitter Sean Gusrang 3-and-0 and at that point had thrown 11 balls and just four strikes in the inning. He recovered to get back to 3-and-2 before Smedberg flied out and then Lopez flied out to end the inning.

Rusbarsky and Chris Affinito hit back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning but Hoffman struck out Greg Miller and Pappas in the middle of the order and got Smedberg to fly out to end the inning.

Senior Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) registered his seventh consecutive multi-hit game and extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored and is now batting .692 (9-for-13) in the tournament. Shunk is batting .581 (18-31) over his last seven games, .483 (29-60) during his hitting streak and .460 (64-139) over his last 37 games. He has hit safely in 35 of those 37 contests and reached base safely in 53 of 57 games this season.

Lopez, Rusbarsky and Affinito accounted for all five Seton Hall hits at the top of the order. The bottom six spots in the lineup were a combined 0-for-17 and the Pirates stranded six of their eight base runners. Chris Roach (3-1, 2.57 ERA) took the loss for Seton Hall, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing six hits and five runs (four earned).

POST-GAME NOTES

Villanova reached 30 wins in a season for the 10th time in its history and the first time since 2004. The Wildcats have now played a single season team record 57 games this season. This is the third time that seventh year head coach Joe Godri has won at least 30 games in a season. Villanova has won more than 25 games and posted a record of at least .500 in six of Godri's seven seasons.

Today's win avenged a three-game sweep at Seton Hall earlier this season during the first weekend of conference play. The Wildcats are now 3-4 all-time against the Pirates in BIG EAST Championship play.

This is also the first time since 1991 that Villanova was the last team standing among itself, Seton Hall and St. John's. The Wildcats defeated St. John's in the 1991 championship game. Villanova, St. John's and Seton Hall combined to win the first five and six of the first seven league titles between 1985 and 1991.

Villanova advances to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship for the first time since 1997, when it played in the championship game. The Wildcats did not make the conference tournament from 1998-2006 before returning last season. This marks the sixth time in its 11 BIG EAST Championship appearances that Villanova has won at least two games in the tournament.

Seniors Derek Shunk and Dan Terpak became the first Wildcats to play in 57 games in a single season with today's game. Shunk's two hits give him 290 in his career and his fourth-inning double moved him into a tie for seventh on the school's career list with 41 career doubles.

Senior Bill Hoffman and sophomore Brian Streilein each have two complete games this season, including one complete game shutout apiece. These are the only four complete games thrown by Villanova pitching all season and represent two of the pitching staff's three shutouts. All four of these complete game efforts have come in the last nine team games.