Plymouth Meeting, Pa. – Villanova baseball received yet another strong pitching performance to take the home opener 5-1 over NJIT. The Wildcat pitching staff held the opposing team to just one run for the fifth time so far this season.
 
Villanova (9-5) received a strong start from Tyler Arella as the senior picked up his first win of the season. Arella worked five innings allowing just four hits and one earned run while striking out four.
 
The Highlanders (6-10) struck first and looked like their high-powered offense may be put on display again. With the wind blowing out unusually warm day, the ball carried well at Villanova Ballpark. The NJIT leadoff batter started with a triple off the center field wall before the two-hole hitter doubled down the left field line to go up 1-0. That turned out to be all the offense on the day for the Highlanders, as Arella settled in to escape the jam.
 
The Wildcats answered in the first with a run of their own on a Ryan Toohers single to center to score Nick Lorusso from second.
 
Dylan McNary took advantage of the hitter-friendly day at the park, lifting one high and long enough to left to carry over the wall for his second home run of the season during the second inning. The long-ball was one of McNary's three hits on the day.
 
John Whooley continued to produce RBIs with a productive fielder's choice in the fourth to plate a run. The freshman now has six RBI in only four starts.
 
Fellow freshman Lucas Latrenta stayed hot narrowly missing a home run in the sixth and settled for a triple. He was driven in by McNary just a few pitches later.
 
The scoring was rounded out on another productive fielder's choice from Ryan Toohers for his second RBI of the day and push the lead to 5-1.
 
Following Arella on the mound, Cam Mathes turned in two strong innings and Jack Povey added one as well. After Chic DeGaetano found himself in a little trouble with two outs in the ninth, Danny Wilkinson was called on the record the final out and earn the save. Wilkinson now has four saves on the year, the most by a Wildcat since Chris Haggarty had nine in 2015.
 
The Wildcats return to action this weekend against Coppin State back at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Friday's game is slated for 3:30 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m., respectively.