JAMAICA, N.Y.—Freshman first baseman Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) had a season-high four hits and sophomore pitcher Jimmy Kingsbury (Phoenixville, Pa.) threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief but a late rally came up short in the ninth inning as Villanova (10-26, 3-6 BIG EAST) fell to St. John's (22-14, 5-4 BIG EAST) by a final score of 3-1 at Jack Kaiser Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The loss came despite the Wildcats outhitting the Red Storm by a 10-7 margin and drawing six walks in the rubber game of a three-game series.  Villanova loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the ninth inning but was unable to push any of those runners home.  A run-scoring single by sophomore second baseman Pat O'Neill (Eagleville, Pa.) in the top of the first inning wound up being the Wildcats only run of the game. 
 
Villanova had runners on base in every inning except the second, but matched a season high by stranding 15 runners on base.  St. John's pitchers Jeff Belge (2-4, 4.81 ERA) and Gavin Hollowell held the Wildcats to going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, while Villanova advanced base runners just nine times in 24 opportunities.  Lorusso finished the day with four singles and batted .462 in the three-game series, O'Neill went 3-for-5 with a double and sophomore left fielder Sam Margulis (Pennington, N.J.) added two hits in Saturday's finale. 
 
In the top of the first inning sophomore center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) walked with one out, Lorusso singled through the right side and senior designated hitter JP Radvany (Lawrenceville, N.J.) walked to load the bases.  O'Neill lined a 1-0 pitch into center field for an RBI single which left the bases loaded and still only one out, but a fielder's choice led to the lead run being thrown out at the plate and a strikeout ended the inning. 
 
Freshman starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo (Cranbury, N.J.) looked sharp in the early innings of his third BIG EAST start.  He worked around a one-out double in the bottom of the first inning, set the side down in order in the second and induced an inning-ending double play in the third after a solo home run by Brandon Bossard with one out in the frame tied the score at 1-1. 
 
Graceffo (3-5, 5.62) also retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth inning, but a leadoff home run by Mitchell Henshaw in the bottom of the fifth gave the Red Storm the lead for the first time.  Bossard walked with one out in the fifth, moved to second on a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on Mike Antico's single up the middle for what turned out to be the only other run of the game. 
 
The single by Antico chased Graceffo from the game, but Kingsbury entered and eventually worked out of trouble to strand two runners and end the inning.  Kingsbury, who recorded the final six outs of the Wildcats series-opening win on Friday afternoon, went the rest of the way on the mound after taking over in the fifth inning.  He allowed just one hit while walking three and striking out three. 
 
Villanova went down anything but quietly in the ninth inning, as a leadoff walk to Rotondo was followed by a Lorusso single through the left side and a walk to Radvany which loaded the bases.  That brought up O'Neill in an inning that was shaping up to be similar to the top of the first, but this time O'Neill was retired on an infield fly.  Hollowell then struck out the next two batters to end the game and earn his third save of the year.
 
Belge worked around constant traffic on the bases to allow one run over 5 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and walking four while striking out five.  Hollowell gave up four hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings but also struck out seven to thwart the Wildcats chances at a rally. 
 
Villanova returns home for a pair of upcoming midweek games against Monmouth and Princeton.  First up is a 3:30 p.m. game versus Monmouth on Tuesday afternoon.