PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Junior starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo (Cranford, N.J.) and sophomore reliever Danny Wilkinson (Scotch Plains, N.J.) combined on a five-hitter as Villanova (7-2) won the first game of a doubleheader against Penn (0-1) with a 3-0 shutout at Meiklejohn Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The win was the seventh straight for the Wildcats, who extended the streak to eight later in the day with a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.
 
Graceffo (2-0, 0.76 ERA) struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings in his third start of the year. He has now pitched 17 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to his final inning of work in the season opener at Radford last month. He also pitched a five-hit shutout against Hofstra on March 7 in his most recent outing. Graceffo struck out the final two batters he faced and departed with a runner at first and two outs in the eighth inning. Wilkinson entered and stranded the inherited runner with a strikeout to end the inning, then worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his fifth save of the year and third in a row in which he recorded four outs.
 
Sophomore right fielder Jack O'Reilly (Villanova, Pa.) hit his first collegiate home run and drove in all three runs in the game. Graceffo and Quakers starting pitcher Joe Miller (0-1, 4.91 ERA) dueled in a scoreless game until the top of the fourth inning when senior center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) drew a leadoff walk and O'Reilly followed by hitting a 3-1 pitch over the fence in left to give Villanova a 2-0 lead.
 
After there were two out and nobody on in the inning the Wildcats drew three straight walks from Miller to load the bases, but Penn made a pitching change and reliever Danny Heintz came in to get a strikeout and strand the bases loaded. The only other run of the game after O'Reilly's second-inning home run came in the top of the ninth when junior catcher Will Reiner (Madison, Conn.) and Rotondo drew consecutive walks ahead of an O'Reilly run-scoring single to right-center. Villanova drew eight walks in the game but also struck out 17 times against three Quakers pitchers.
 
Graceffo was never in any serious trouble, as he retired the first five batters of the game and eight of the first 10 through three innings. He walked Jackson Petersen with one out in the bottom of the second and gave up a two-out single to leadoff batter Tommy Courtney in the third inning.
 
After the Wildcats went ahead in the top of the fourth, Graceffo allowed a leadoff single to Eduardo Malinowski leading off the bottom of the inning. He got Andrew Hernandez to fly to left for the first out, then erased Malinowski when he induced a 1-6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Graceffo gave up a leadoff single to Petersen in the fifth inning but benefited from another twin-killing as Wyatt Henseler grounded into an around-the-horn 5-4-3 double play.
 
Both teams finished the game with five hits, with O'Reilly for Villanova and Malinowski for Penn the only batters on either team to have multi-hit games. Rotondo was on base three times for the Wildcats with a single and two walks, while junior third baseman Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) and junior shortstop Dylan McNary (Jefferson, Mass.) also had hits.
 
The game was the season opener for the Quakers, who only learned for sure on Thursday morning that they would be able to open their season this weekend. After playing a doubleheader in Philadelphia on Saturday, Villanova and Penn will meet for a single game on Sunday afternoon at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. First pitch, weather permitting, is slated for 1:30 p.m.