Winter Haven, Fla. – Jimmy Kingsbury turned in another fantastic performance on the mound and some early offense from the Wildcats lifted Villanova past Bucknell 8-2 Friday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Stadium.
 
Kingsbury turned in his third consecutive quality start, going 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K to earn his second win of the year. While they did commit three errors, the Wildcat defense helped pick him up multiple times in key places to keep Bucknell off the board.
 
Specifically, Chris Rotondo had his pitcher's back, recording a career high 10 putouts in center field, including a spectacular diving catch.
 
Rotondo also got it done at the plate, going 2-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. The junior led off the game with a double and came around to score on back-to-back singles from Nick Lorusso and Ryan Toohers. John Whooley worked a bases loaded walk later in the frame to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead after one.
 
The Bison came out swinging, and put the first four pitches from Kingsbury in play to quickly get a run back. After the leadoff batter came around to score, Kingsbury did not issue another run until the eighth.
 
Villanova tacked on two more in the second courtesy of a pair of errors by the Bison.
 
The Wildcats broke the game open in the fourth. After a leadoff single by Sam Margulis and the second double of the game by Rotondo, a sac fly brought home Margulis. Two batters later, Ryan Toohers took an 0-2 pitch deep to right for his first home run of the season. Latrenta then walked and hustled to score from first on a double deep in the gap by Dylan McNary to push the lead to 8-1.
 
The Bison got one back in the eighth. After Kingsbury issued a lead off walk, he was pulled for Jack Povey. A two-out double brought in Bucknell's second run of the game.
 
Bucknell threatened a ninth-inning rally after loading the bases with nobody out. The coaching staff gave the freshman a chance to work out of the jam, and he did just that. Povey reached back for a pair of strikeouts before getting the final batter to pop up to first base to leave the bases loaded and shut the door on an 8-2 victory.
 
Toohers picked up his second three-RBI game of the season while Chris Rotondo matched a team-best fourth multi-hit game on the year and is now batting .324.
 
The two teams will be back tomorrow for game two of the series at 1:00 p.m.