April 28, 2002

Box Score

PITTSBURGH - On Sunday, April 28, at Trees Field, in the third and final game of the series between Villanova and Pittsburgh, the Panthers took full advantage of five errors by the Wildcats and won the game 5-1 to capture the series two games to one. The `Cats fell to 26-18 overall and 9-10 in Big Easy play with the loss. Pittsburgh upped its record to 8-9 in the Big East and 25-12-1 overall.

Villanova took the contest's first lead in the top of the first inning as senior first baseman Rob Cafiero hit his second home run of the series and 13th of the year to give the Wildcats a 1-0 against the Panthers and starter P.J. Hiser.

On the opposite end, Villanova senior right-hander Bob Grzenda was throwing another outstanding game, blanking Pittsburgh for the first four innings of the game.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom half of the fifth inning, Pittsburgh took advantage of two straight Wildcat errors to begin the inning. After Grzenda hit centerfielder Tony Railing with a pitch, Pittsburgh had the bases loaded with no outs. Villanova's crafty right-hander got the next batter, Stuart Rykaceski, to ground into a 1-2-3 double play for the first two outs of the inning. Grzenda had a 3-2 count on first baseman Brant Colamarino and looked to be out of the jam, but Colamarino roped a two-out, two-run double to left-center field, scoring Tony Railing and Scott Folmar and give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

Pittsburgh notched two more runs in the sixth inning as junior Rolando Bello scored on an error by Wildcat shortstop Brian Trotta. Sophomore Mike Zambriczki followed up with a sacrifice fly that plated Michael Bell. The Panthers scored their last run in the seventh inning Bello doubled home Colamarino.

While Pittsburgh's hitters were keeping pressure on the Wildcat defense, Hiser was holding their bats in check. The Panther righty scattered eight hits and pitched his third complete game of the season, giving up just one run, on the first-inning home run to Cafiero. Hiser (4-2) also struck out a career-high 10 batters.

Chris Graziano and Adrian Schau paced Villanova with two hits apiece, while Grzenda took the loss on the mound, working 5.1 innings with three strikeouts and four hits.

The Wildcats will get back into action on Tuesday, April 30, hosting Howard at 3:30 p.m.