March 9, 2001

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FLA- On Friday, March 9, at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla, the Villanova baseball team wound down its spring trip in fine fashion by defeating Monmouth 10-2. The win was the Wildcats second straight over the Hawks and improved their record to 5-3 overall on the season.

Monmouth scored one run in the top of the first inning off of Villanova starter Tom Kandybowicz to take an early 1-0 advantage. Center fielder Greg Landis was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and stole second to get in scoring position. Two batters later, right fielder Jay Law singled to right field to knock in Landis with the first run of the game to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first for the Wildcats, center fielder Chris Graziano singled through the left side to start the inning. Graziano stole second and moved to third on a single through the left side by designated hitter Nick Piantek. The next batter for the `Cats, Rob Cafiero, hit a ground ball to shortstop to score Graziano and tie up the game at 1-1.

Villanova took its first lead of the game in the fourth inning. Right fielder Mike Houser singled through the right side. Third baseman Brendan Trainor struck out, but a wild pitch allowed him to go to first and Houser to advance to second base with no outs. The Wildcats would load the bases as catcher Greg Fater singled to the shortstop. Freshman shortstop Brian Trotta kept up hit hot hitting by singling home Houser and Trainor with a "seeing eye" single through the left side to increase Villanova's lead to 3-1. The `Cats added one more run in the fourth on a Graziano RBI single to take a 4-1 advantage.

The Hawks would inch one run closer in the bottom of the sixth. Mike Kelly and Paul Grasso each tallied singles to begin the sixth. With one out, pinch hitter Andrew Chiappano grounded out to shortstop to score Kelly and close the gap to 4-2.

In the Villanova sixth, Trainor reached on an error by the Monmouth second baseman and advanced to second on the throw. Fater sacrificed Trainor to third base, and Graziano followed with an RBI single up the middle to pad the Wildcat lead to 5-2.

That lead would would increase one inning later, as the Villanova offense opened the flood gates once again. Houser tallied an RBI single and Trainor added a sacrifice fly to make it a 7-2 game. In the eighth, singles by Graziano and Pizzini were followed by Piantek's second home run of the season, a three-run blast, to give the Wildcats a 10-2 victory.

After giving up one run in the first inning, Kandybowicz settled down and threw six more strong innings to pick up his first win of the year. He would finish the day pitching seven innings, and giving up just two runs on seven hits, striking out seven and walking two.

Freshman Dan Farino came on and threw the final two innings of shutout baseball to help the `Cats to their second consecutive victory over the Hawks.

At the plate for Villanova, Graziano went four-for-five with two runs scored, two RBI and two stolen bases. Piantek had three hits in five at-bats, drilling his first home run of the year and recording three RBI on the day.

The Wildcats will open their home season on Monday, March 12, hosting West Chester University at Richie Ashburn Field in Philadelphia, at 3:00 p.m.