May 12, 2000

Box Score

Morgantown, W.V. --- On Friday, May 12th, at Hawley Field in Morgantown, West Virginia, the Villanova baseball team was swept by the West Virginia Mountaineers, losing game one 6-1 and falling in game two by a score of 2-1. These two losses eliminate Villanova from Big East tournament competition. Villanova drops to 24-25 overall with the two losses and 8-14 in the Big East. West Virginia improves to 24-28 overall and 9-12 in the Big East, keeping their hopes for play in the Big East tournament alive.

In the second game, Villanova scored first by scoring one run in the first inning. Centerfielder Chris Graziano reached base on an error. Graziano then advanced to second base on a ground out by Dave Pizzini and advanced to third on a ground out by Matt Longo. After a walk by Rob Cafiero put runners at the corners, Graziano scored on a balk to give Villanova a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, West Virginia struck back however. Leftfielder Chris Schmidt doubled down the left field line to start the inning and was sacrificed to third base. With one out and rightfielder Matt McGee at the plate, McGee struck out swinging but reached first base on an error by catcher John Picone. The next batter, centerfielder Mike Frownfelter, hit a ball to shortstop that was booted for an error by freshman Ryan Crammer. Schmidt scored on the play tying the game at 1-1. During the next at-bat, McGee scored on a wild pitch by Wildcat freshman hurler Brian Slocum. The run gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the ballgame at 2-1, but that was all West Virginia would need as the Wildcats were unable to score on Mountaineer starter Brian Tarajack.

Pitching outstanding on the mound for Villanova was freshman Brian Slocum. Slocum pitched all eight innings allowing just two runs on seven hits, no earned runs, struck out seven and walked two batters. Tarajack got the win for West Virginia to improve his record to 4-3. Tarajack pitched a complete game surrendering six hits, one unearned run, struck out seven and walked one.

At the plate for West Virginia, Mike Frownfelter went two-for-four with a triple and RBI while leftfielder Chris Schmidt went three-for-four with a run and a double. At the plate for Villanova, Chris Graziano went one-for-four with a run scored while Dave Pizzini went one-for-four. Pizzini ended the day three-for-seven from the plate.

The Wildcats and Mountaineers will get back into action on Saturday, playing a single game at 12 noon.