April 13, 2008
Box Score
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - Notre Dame (21-9-1, 10-2 Big East) completed a three-game sweep of Villanova (15-18, 4-8 Big East) on Sunday afternoon by a 13-0 score at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. The Wildcats had just four hits and were shutout for the third time this season.
The Fighting Irish scored all their runs in the first six innings of the game, five of which were unearned due to four fielding errors committed by Villanova. After getting two runs in the top of the first inning, Notre Dame broke the game open with four runs in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead.
AJ Pollock tripled home a run in the first inning and Evan Sharpley followed with a long double to get the Fighting Irish started against junior Kyle Carver (Aldan, Pa.), who was charged with six runs (four earned) in 1 1/3 innings pitched.
In the bottom of the first inning, junior Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) led off with a single but was picked off of first by Notre Dame starter Eric Maust. Junior Joe Rosati (Havertown, Pa.) followed with a walk, stole second and took third on a fly ball out, but Maust escaped the inning unblemished with a foul pop-up along the first base line. The Wildcats got just one runner as far as second base over the final eight innings.
Senior Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) went 2-for-4 and was the only Villanova hitter to reach base more than once. Senior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) added a sixth-inning single for the only other Wildcat hit aside from the two by Shunk and one by Cotter.
With the game already in hand, seniors Ryan Wendler (Conshohocken, Pa.) and Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) combined to pitch three scoreless innings from the seventh through the ninth. Wendler allowed four hits in two innings of work and had one strikeout, while Hoffman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with a strikeout.
Every starter for the Fighting Irish had at least one hit and eight different players had multi-hit games. Pollock finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three driven in and Brett Lilley had two hits and scored four runs.
Maust went seven innings and allowed three hits while waking four and striking out three to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Villanova returns home during the week to play Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon home games against La Salle and Lafayette at 3:15 p.m. each day. The two games will wrap up a 12-game homestand for the Wildcats, who had won the first seven games of the stretch before this weekend's sweep.
