PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.—A spirited rally in the bottom of the eighth inning led Villanova (6-19) to a 5-4 victory over Penn (11-7) in the quarterfinal round of the Liberty Bell Classic at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon.  The win advanced the Wildcats to the semifinals of the local tournament, where they will host Lafayette next Tuesday with a chance to play at Citizens Bank Park on the line. 
 
Freshmen infielders Dylan McNary (Jefferson, Mass.) and Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) played starring roles in the final two innings of the dramatic win.  McNary legged out a triple to lead off the bottom of the eighth and also made a diving stop deep in the hole at shortstop which led to the first out in the ninth inning.  Lorusso scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly, then took the mound and retired the Quakers in order for his first career save.
 
It was a day on which Villanova had to scrape and claw for whatever it could get offensively.  Despite not having a hit until there were two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Wildcats overcame a 4-0 deficit and tallied the one-run victory with just four base hits total.  Senior designated hitter JP Radvany (Lawrenceville, N.J.) hit a game-tying two-run double and junior left fielder Timothy Lilly (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) gave Villanova the lead with a sacrifice fly which capped the eighth-inning rally. 
 
Not to be missed was that the Wildcats bullpen combined for five scoreless innings with just two hits and a walk allowed.  Senior swingman Zach Lutner (Sicklerville, N.J.) came into the game in the fifth inning and pitched two scoreless innings, freshman starter Gordon Graceffo (Cranford, N.J.) came out of the pen for the second time this season and set down six straight batters to earn the win, and Lorusso needed only eight pitches to record the last three outs. 
 
Lorusso has become the resident jack-of-all-trades on the Villanova roster.  In the span of 10 minutes during the excitement of the Wildcats comeback he scored from third, ran straight to the bullpen to warmup for a mound appearance and then struck out the final batter of the game to seal the win.  Lorusso was the third baseman for the first eight innings of the game – his 15^th start of the year at the hot corner – before coming in to make for his seventh pitching outing of the year.
 
"Coach [Mulvey] told me the day before that I would have a chance of pitching, but that is usually when I DH," Lorusso said.  "I was playing third base and after the eighth inning I thought 'wow, this is really happening; I'm going in and I've got to shut the door,' and then it happened."
 
Villanova scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cut the four-run deficit in half.  The first real sign that the pendulum of momentum was shifting back towards the home team came with runners at first and second and one out in the bottom of the seventh.  Junior first baseman Ryan Toohers (Florham Park, N.J.) was the batter, and with one foul ball after another jousted against Penn reliever Seth DeVries in a 10-pitch plate appearance.  Toohers wasted three straight 1-2 pitches, took a ball, fouled off another pitch, and then watched balls three and four go by him to load the bases ahead of a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Doug deMarrais (Bernardsville, N.J.). 
 
McNary drove a ball up the gap in left-center field to start the eighth and looked like he had a triple on his mind as soon as he made contact. 
 
"Every time I hit the ball I think I'm scoring, so I was just running as hard as I could," McNary said. 
 
Sophomore center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) walked to put the tying runs on base.  Lorusso chopped a ball along the first base line, which Quakers reliever Dylan Mulvihill (0-2, 4.50 ERA) fielded cleanly but threw wide of first base for an error which loaded the bases.  Radvany's double to left-center tied the score at 4-4, with runners still at second and third with nobody out.  Penn brought the infield in and got a groundball out without the runners advancing, but Lilly lifted an 0-2 pitch deep enough into right-center field to score the go-ahead run. 
 
There were two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth inning, at which point in the game the Wildcats were hitless and had managed just one base runner.  McNary walked though, and Rotondo followed with an RBI double to left-center.  Radvany walked and sophomore second baseman Pat O'Neill (Eagleville, Pa.) singled in the seventh inning. 
 
"The first four to five innings we couldn't really string together a hit," Lorusso said, but that seventh inning was huge.  It build momentum and ultimately got us the win." 
 
Penn starting pitcher Joe Miller struck out seven of the first 10 batters of the game, with the only base runner against him being a hit batter (deMarrais) with one out in the bottom of the third.  Kevin Eaise allowed a hit and was charged with an earned run in three innings of relief from the fourth through the sixth. 
 
Sophomore right-hander Cameron Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) got the start for Villanova and was effective for three innings before allowing three runs on five hits in the top of the fourth.  The two scoreless innings from Lutner quieted the Quakers bats, then Graceffo (1-4, 7.34) and Lorusso combined to retire nine in a row.  Graceffo combined three strikeouts with three ground balls on the infield for an easy six outs. 
 
The leadoff batter in the top of the ninth inning – Penn third baseman Matt McGeagh – made hard contact on a ball that he hit towards the hole on the left side of the infield.  McNary moved to his right, made a sliding stop and quickly popped up to make the throw to first.  A shallow fly to left and a strikeout were the finishing touches. 
 
Villanova will host Lafayette at 3:30 p.m. next Tuesday – April 2 – in the semifinal round of the Liberty Bell Classic.  The winner of that game will face the winner of another semifinal game between Rider and Delaware in the Liberty Bell championship on April 23 at Citizens Bank Park.  After playing 20 games in the first 27 days of March, the Wildcats have a much-needed bye this weekend and will be idle until next Tuesday's game versus Lafayette.