Winter Haven, Fla. – Villanova (7-5) secured the series win and a winning road trip to Florida with a 4-1 victory over Bucknell (3-10) Saturday at Chain of Lakes Stadium. Villanova again received solid pitching as the offense did enough to deliver the win.
Gordon Graceffo improved to 4-0 in his four starts this year with his third straight quality start. He was again followed by
Danny Wilkinson who was lights out on the way to his third save of the year. This was the third time this season that Graceffo and Wilkinson have combined for the win-save combo as the only two pitchers used. In each, they've combined to allow only one run.
Graceffo worked 6.1 innings allowing seven hits and just one run while striking out four. Wilkinson followed up with 2.2 innings of shutout baseball. The freshman retired the first seven batters he faced before a two-out single and walk in the ninth brought the game-tying run to the plate. Wilkinson reached back and painted the inside corner to get the looking strikeout to end it.
The Wildcats were gifted their first run of the game, after Rotondo led off with a hit-by-pitch and moved around via sac bunt and fly ball, he scored on an E4 off the bat of
Ryan Toohers.
Will Reiner made things happen in the second, working walk, swiping second for the first stolen base of his career and advancing on a wild pitch. All that work set up
Pat O'Neill to poke a two-strike RBI single to left.
Bucknell scored its lone run in the third to make it a one-run game with a double followed by a one-out single. The Bison threatened for more with the bases loaded, but Graceffo wasted no time in escaping the jam with a clinical three-pitch strikeout and the batter not taking the bat off his shoulder during the at-bat.
Villanova tacked on one more in each the sixth and seventh. Neither run spectacular, but fundamental baseball with a sac bunt and timely hits from
Chris Rotondo and
AJ Hansen to push the lead to 4-1.
Hansen has shown a knack for timely hits this season, as he is now 3-5 with three RBI on the year. After reaching three more times today, Rotondo brought his OBP to a .500 for the year.
Villanova goes for the sweep tomorrow with a Sunday morning matchup at 10:30 a.m.
