April 17, 2002
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA. - On Wednesday, April 17 at Murphy Field in Philadelphia, the Villanova baseball team took a 9-4 lead into the ninth inning but saw that lead slip away as the University of Pennsylvania rallied for a 10-9 victory. The Wildcats' five-game winning streak came to an end with the loss as they fall to 21-15 on the season. The Quakers improved to 10-21 on the year with the win.
With one out in the top of the first inning, Villanova posted two straight hits off of Penn starter Ben Krantz to take a 1-0 lead. Wildcat right fielder Brian Hearne lined a single over the shortstop Steve Glass' out-stretched glove to start things off for the `Cats. First baseman Rob Cafiero followed with a double down the left field line to give Villanova a 1-0 advantage.
Despite allowing Quaker baserunners in each of the first two innings, Wildcat starter Tom Kandybowicz pitched Villanova out of jams in both innings. With two men on in the first inning, Kandybowicz struck out first baseman Andrew McCreery and got right fielder Bryan Graves to groundout to end the inning. One inning later, he got left fielder Nate Moffie to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Pennsylvania tied the game on a home run and then took its first lead of the contest. Second baseman Nick Italiano hit a 3-2 offering by Kandybowicz over the right-field wall for a solo home run. The Quakers put each of the next three hitters on base on a single and two hit batters to load the bases with no outs. Centerfielder Alex Blagojevich gave Penn its first lead with a sacrifice fly down the right field line. Before the inning was over, the Quakers added another run on a sacrifice fly by catcher Matt Horn to take a 3-1 lead after four innings.
Penn reliever Russ Brocato walked catcher Greg Fater to begin the fifth, allowed a bunt single to centerfielder Chris Graziano and walked Hearne to load the bases with no outs. After Brocato struck out Cafiero for the first out of the inning, leftfielder Adrian Schau lined a two-run single up the middle to tie the game up at 3-3. Third baseman Brendan Mannix followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Hearne to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. Villanova scored once more in the inning on an RBI single by designated hitter Ryan Crammer to take a 5-3 advantage.
Quaker designated hitter Jim Mullen got Penn one run closer on a solo home run down the left field line to lead off the fifth inning against Wildcat reliever John Yeager. With runners on first and second and two outs, Blagojevich singled through the left side. Schau came up throwing from left field and threw out Italiano at the plate to keep the Wildcats' 5-4 lead intact.
Yeager ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth inning, as runners stood at first and third with only one out and Mullen coming back to the plate. On the first pitch, he got Mullen to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning with the Villanova still leading 5-4.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Wildcats capitalized on some wildness on the part of the Quaker pitching staff. Cafiero doubled to left field with one out to start things off for Villanova. Penn reliever Mark Lacerenza walked the next two Wildcat batters to load the bases. Brian Newbold came on to pinch hit for Villanova to face Quaker right-hander Bill Kirk who had just entered the game. Newbold walked to force in Cafiero and extend the Wildcats' lead to 6-4.
Miscues led to three more Villanova runs in the top of the eighth inning. Hearne and Cafiero singled with two outs. Penn looked to be out of the inning as Schau hit a groundball to short, but Glass' throw was over the first baseman's head allowing both Hearne and Cafiero to score and make it an 8-4 game. Mannix added an RBI double to increase the Wildcat advantage to 9-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the bottom of the ninth with two on and one run already home, James Russell came in to pitch for Villanova looking for his 11th save of the year. The first batter to face Russell, third baseman Mike Goldblatt, singled through the left side to plate another run and cut the lead to 9-6. After Russell walked the next batter, left fielder Nate Moffie came to the plate and lined a hard shot to first base which Cafiero jumped for and got a hand on but was unable to come up with. Two runners scored on the single closing the gap to 9-8. After striking out the next batter, Russell threw a wild pitch allowing runners to move up to second and third. With two strikes on Glass, he hit a soft roller out in front of the plate. Russell charged in to field it but his throw pulled Cafiero off the base at first. The first runner came around to score and Cafiero's throw to the plate was too late to get the second runner, as the Quakers completed the rally and came away with the 10-9 victory.
Starting for the `Cats but getting a no decision was Kandybowicz who pitched four innings, giving up three runs on four hits, walking three and striking out two. Yeager came on in relief and pitched two innings of one-run ball. Freshman Mike Grodecki came on and pitched the two and one-third innings before giving way to Russell who took the loss to fall to 0-3. Josh Appell got the victory on the mound for Penn to improve to 1-0.
At the plate for Villanova, Graziano went one-for-six to increase his hit-streak to 11 games. Hearne, Cafiero and Crammer all had multi-hit games for the Wildcats. Hearne went two-for-five with three runs, Cafiero went three-for-five with two doubles and one RBI, and Crammer went two-for-three with a double and one RBI. Mannix and Schau each had two RBI in the game as well.
Villanova will next play on Thursday, April 18, hosting La Salle at 3:30 p.m.
