Box Score

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - Sophomore catcher Doug deMarrais (Bernardsville, N.J.) drove in the eventual winning run against his former teammates with a safety squeeze in the sixth inning and Villanova (4-16) held on to edge Rutgers (10-18) by a final of 3-2 at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon. The tying and winning runs each scored in the bottom of the sixth after the visiting Scarlet Knights had taken a one-run lead in the top of the inning.

This is the first season with the Wildcats for deMarrais, who transferred to Villanova with three years of eligibility of remaining after spending the previous two seasons at Rutgers. He came to the plate with runners at the corners and one out in the sixth inning, and bunted the first pitch he saw up the first line to put the Wildcats ahead for good.

Junior starting pitcher Mike Sgaramella (Florham Park, N.J.) went 5 1/3 innings in a very strong start and freshman Ryan Pfutzenreuter (Deerfield, Ill.) pitched the final 3 2/3 innings out of the bullpen to earn his first collegiate victory. Pfutzenreuter (1-0, 4.63 ERA) retired nine of the 11 batters he faced and gave up just one hit while walking none and striking out two in his best and longest outing of the season.

Villanova trailed 2-1 as it came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning but immediately got a rally started when senior right fielder Donovan May (Newark, Del.) singled to right to start the inning. Senior second baseman Todd Czinege (Overland Park, Kan.) lined a single to center which moved May to second, but the ball got away from center fielder Jawuan Harris and May came all the way around to score and tie the game at 2-2.

Czinege also took second on the fielding error, and junior designated hitter Brandon Campos (Middletown, N.Y.) hit a ball deep in the hole at short for an infield single which moved Czinege to third. Scarlet Knights first baseman Mike Carter then fielded deMarrais' bunt up the line and tagged him for the second out of the inning, but he had no play at the plate as Czinege scored the go-ahead run.

In the top half of the inning, Nick Matera drew a leadoff walk against Sgaramella and moved into scoring position on starting pitcher Christian Campbell's sacrifice bunt. Mike Martinez followed with a double to deep left ââ'¬" the only extra-base hit of the game for either team ââ'¬" to drive in Matera as Rutgers took its only lead of the game.

Czinege hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead. Junior center fielder David Gulati (Collegeville, Pa.), batting in the leadoff spot for only the second time in his career, led off the inning with a single up the middle and freshman left fielder Tyler Bruno (Breinigsville, Pa.) followed with a single to left. May sacrificed the runners to second and third with one away before Czinege's fly out to right brought in the game's first run.

A sacrifice fly to right by the Scarlet Knights' Milo Freeman in the top of the second inning tied the score at one-all.

Pfutzenreuter entered the game with Martinez at second and one out in the top of the sixth. Martinez had stolen both second and third earlier in the game, but he tried to steal third again with Freeman at the plate and was thrown out by deMarrais for the second out of the sixth inning. Pfutzenreuter eventually got a called third strike against Freeman to end the inning.

Earlier in the game, Sgaramella stayed out of trouble by getting big outs when he needed them. He struck out Tom Marcinczyk with runners at first and second in the third inning, although a successful double steal on the strikeout put those runners at second and third with two away. Sgaramella then got the cleanup hitter, Matera, to ground to short and end the inning. A walk and an infield hit with two outs in the fifth inning was nullified when Sgaramella got Marcinczyk to fly out to right. May chased the long fly ball all the way to the base of the fence before making the catch for the final out.

Sgaramella gave two earned runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings, while walking four and striking out three.

Martinez went 3-for-4 for the Scarlet Knights and led off the top of the ninth inning with an infield hit. His hard shot up the middle was gloved by freshman shortstop Timothy Lilly (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) on a quick slide behind the second base bag, but Martinez was ruled to be safe at first on Lilly's pop-up throw. With the potential tying run aboard, Pfutzenreuter induced Freeman into a 6-4-3 double play and then got a fly ball to right to end the game.

Campbell (2-2, 4.50 ERA) allowed seven hits and three runs (two earned) over 5 2/3 innings. He walked none and struck out five.

Villanova begins conference play this weekend when it hosts Xavier for a three-game series. The opener is on Friday at 3 p.m.

NOTES: Villanova leads the all-time series with Rutgers by a 41-40 margin ââ'¬Â¦ The all-time series began in 1898 and the teams played each other 47 times as BIG EAST foes ââ'¬Â¦ Eight of the hitters in the Wildcats lineup reached base safely at least once in the game, although none were on base more than once ââ'¬Â¦ Both teams had seven hits ââ'¬Â¦ Villanova is 2-0 in one-run games this season.