VILLANOVA, Pa.—The final home weekend of the 2019 season will be an exciting one for the Wildcats, who have several special events planned around a three-game series with Xavier at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. As currently scheduled, the series will be played on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m. In the event that inclement weather forces adjustments to the schedule during the weekend, those changes will be announced online and on social media as soon as they become available.
The baseball team will host its annual Youth Day on Friday afternoon, while it will be Senior Day on Saturday as the team recognizes its eight graduating seniors in a ceremony on the field. Following the game on Saturday, the Wildcats will get ready for commencement exercises just for the baseball team held at the Connelly Center. The team's annual banquet follows graduation in Finneran Pavilion. It is Mother's Day on Sunday, and the mothers of the Villanova seniors will be throwing out the first pitch.
This year's senior class of Wildcats features several players who rank among the all-time leaders in the program record book. Relief pitchers
Jason Applegate (Columbus, N.J.) and
Zach Lutner (Sicklerville, N.J.) rank third and fourth in school history in career appearances, while veteran swingman
Jonathan Rosero (Middle Village, N.Y.) became the 20
th pitcher in school history to surpass 200 career innings pitched when he reached that milestone earlier this week. Rosero has appeared in 62 career games (35 starts), while classmate
Jake Esp (Sugar Grove, Ill.) has pitched in 58 games and stands just two appearances outside of the team's all-time top 20.
On the offensive side, senior catcher
Doug deMarrais (Bernardsville, N.J.) is the Villanova career record holder in runners caught stealing. He set the record last season and has increased it with every would-be base stealer he has nabbed this season. deMarrais has thrown out 54 runners during his Wildcats career. He also ranks seventh in career fielding percentage with a .993 mark in 767 chances. Two other seniors – third baseman
John Heilenbach (Western Springs, Ill.) and first baseman/designated hitter
JP Radvany (Lawrenceville, N.J.) – have been among the team's top performers this season. Heilenbach ranks second on the team with a .419 on-base percentage, while Radvany has a team-high 32 runs batted in to go along with seven doubles, three home runs, 23 walks and a .351 on-base percentage.
The opening game of the Xavier series will be one to watch as the Wildcats look to continue their hot streak in weekend openers. Villanova has won the first game of each of its first four BIG EAST series this season, a feat that the team had not accomplished since 1995. This is the third time the Musketeers are coming to the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth since they joined the league in 2014. Villanova has taken two of the three games in each of its two prior home series against Xavier, although the Musketeers have a 10-6 overall edge in the series.
Villanova played its final non-conference games of the season this week against Rutgers and Army West Point, and now has six BIG EAST contests remaining on the 2019 slate. This week's series against Xavier will be followed by a road trip to Creighton next week (May 16-18).
