PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.—Senior center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) had two hits and scored three times, including the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Villanova (3-2) won its third straight game with a 6-5 victory over Delaware (2-1) at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Saturday afternoon. All nine starters in the Wildcats lineup reached base safely at least once in the game, with Rotondo doubling twice to set a tone at the top of the batting order.
 
Two runs in the bottom of the first inning staked senior starting pitcher Tyler Arella (East Northport, N.Y.) to an early 2-0 lead, but the Blue Hens later tied the score at 3-3 in the sixth inning as the teams traded run-scoring turns at the plate. Villanova took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, then hung on after Delaware once again pulled to within a run in the top half of the eighth. Senior reliever Cameron Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) earned his first collegiate victory and sophomore Danny Wilkinson (Scotch Plains, N.J.) recorded the final four outs for his second save of the year.
 
Rotondo led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double to left, moved to third on the second sacrifice bunt of the day by freshman second baseman Cameron Hassert (Longmont, Colo.) and scored the go-ahead run on a single to center by sophomore third baseman Jack O'Reilly (Villanova, Pa.). Later in the inning, senior shortstop Pat O'Neill (Eagleville, Pa.) and graduate student Nick Oar (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) drew consecutive bases-loaded walks from two different pitchers to force in two more runs which proved to be the difference in the game.
 
In the top of the eighth inning Joey Loynd led off with a single to center, Joseph Carpenter drove him in with a one-out single and Carpenter eventually scored himself on a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-5 with the potential tying run at second base and two outs. That was when Wilkinson relieved Mathes (1-0), and he struck out Mitchell Balint on five pitches to escape the inning and preserve the narrow lead. Wilkinson went back out for the ninth and retired the side in order on a strikeout and two ground balls.
 
Earlier in the game, Rotondo and Hassert doubled to lead off the bottom of the first inning and the Wildcats had a 1-0 lead before they had made their first out. Senior first baseman Ryan Toohers (Florham Park, N.J.) made it 2-0 with an RBI groundout later in the inning. Delaware got on the board with an unearned run in the third inning, but Rotondo was hit by a pitch leading off the bottom of the fifth and scored on an RBI single by O'Reilly to make the score 3-1.
 
Making his first start since March 10 of last season, Arella mostly stayed out of trouble with just the unearned run allowed through the first five innings. He had retired nine straight through the end of the fifth inning, but Blue Hens right fielder Kyle Baker led off the top of the sixth inning with a single to center to start what turned into a two-run rally. Consecutive one-out singles by Jack Goan and Carpenter loaded the bases before Aidan Riley lined a game-tying, two-run single to center. Riley was the last batter Arella faced, but Mathes came on to strike out Vinny Vaccone and Balint to strand runners at second and third with the score still tied.
 
Arella wound up allowing six hits and three runs (two earned) over 5 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out four. Mathes yielded two earned runs on three hits in his 2 1/3 innings of work, but struck out three before turning the game over to Wilkinson in the eighth inning.
 
Saturday's contest marked Villanova's first true home game against the Blue Hens since April 18, 2001 when the Wildcats called Richie Ashburn Field in Philadelphia home. The teams meet again on Sunday afternoon – this time in Newark, Del. – with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Delaware owns an all-time 39-32-2 advantage in a series that dates back to 1893 when the nearby schools faced each other for the first time.