April 12, 2000
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA.--- On Wednesday, April 12, at Richie Ashburn Field in Philadelphia, the Villanova University baseball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the tenth inning to beat cross-town rival St. Joseph's by the score of 5-4. The win was the Wildcats' second straight and improved their record to 15-17 on the season, while the Hawks fall to 13-21.
St. Joseph's scored first, with two runs in the third inning off of Villanova starter Drew Kirchner. Hawk's leftfielder Justin Gadusky stole third with one out in the inning, and scored on a throwing error by Wildcat catcher Dan Glover. St. Joseph's second run came on a RBI single by rightfielder Mike DeVincentis.
Aaron Krawiec came on to relieve Kirchner in the fifth inning, and pitched three shutout innings of relief to hold off the Hawks. In the seventh, the Villanova offense finally made its move. With runners at first and second with two outs, Wildcat leftfielder Dave Pizzini tripled to score Glover and freshman Ryan Crammer to tie the game at 2-2. The next batter, center fielder Chris Graziano, singled in Pizzini to give Villanova its first lead of the contest at 3-2.
With runners at the corners and two outs in the top of the ninth, two straight Wildcat errors helped St. Joseph's tie the game at 3-3 and send the contest into extra innings.
A Villanova error in the tenth led to yet another unearned run for the Hawks, giving them a 4-3 advantage. Centerfielder Eric Wyatt's RBI-single gave St. Joseph's its first lead since the seventh inning.
The Wildcats staged another rally in the bottom of the tenth keyed by Pizzini, who kept up his hot hitting with a double. One batter later, Pizzini advanced to third on a bunt single by Graziano. After Hawk reliever Kevin Kirkby replaced Jim Boylan, Villanova first baseman Rob Cafiero drilled a double into right-centerfield to score Pizzini with the tying run. After second baseman Matt Longo was intentionally walked to load the bases, third baseman Brendan Trainor hit a groundball to second base. Hawk second baseman Chris McLaughlin's throw to the plate was not in time, as Graziano slid into home with the game-winning run to give the `Cats a 5-4 victory.
Villanova pitcher Jason Petre (1-1) got the win on the mound, with three innings of solid relief. Boylan took the loss for St. Joseph's to fall to 0-4.
At the plate for the Wildcats, Pizzini finished four-for-five with a single, double, two triples, two runs scored, two RBI and a stolen base. With four more hits, Pizzini is now batting a team-best .414 on the season. In addition to leading the `Cats in hitting, he also has team-highs of 31 runs scored, 55 hits, nine doubles, three triples and 22 RBI.
For the Hawks, Kirkby went a perfect four-for-four with a stolen base and one run scored.
Villanova will resume play on Thursday, April 12, hosting Rider University at 3:30 p.m.
