VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior starting pitcher Jimmy Kingsbury (Phoenixville, Pa.) had a career-high 13 strikeouts and pitched his second career complete game as Villanova (8-2) extended its winning streak to eight with a 3-2 victory over Penn (0-2) in the second game of a doubleheader at Meiklejohn Stadium on Saturday afternoon. In the opening game earlier in the day, two Wildcats pitchers combined on a five-hitter in a 3-0 victory. The eight-game winning streak is the team's longest in 12 years.
 
Kingsbury (3-1, 3.37 ERA) came within two outs of throwing the ninth one-hitter in school history – and the second of his career – before hanging on to close out the one-run game. He retired 20 consecutive batters from the second through eighth innings and recorded 11 of his 13 strikeouts in that stretch. Kingsbury had a one-hit shutout going with one out in the ninth inning when Eduardo Malinowski hit a two-run home run to left to trim a 3-0 deficit down to just one run. The home run accounted for the only two runs the Quakers scored the entire day.
 
Penn leadoff batter Tommy Courtney reached on an error to start the bottom of the ninth inning, but Kingsbury struck out Craig Larsen for the first out of the inning. After the Malinowski home run on a 1-2 pitch, Andrew Hernandez lined out to center for the second out. Ben Miller singled through the left side to get the tying run on base and the potential winning run at the plate with two away before Kingsbury got Wyatt Henseler on a lineout to right field to end the game.
 
Sophomore right fielder Jack O'Reilly (Villanova, Pa.), who drove in all three Villanova runs in the first game of the day, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the nightcap. Just as the case had been in the opener, the teams were scoreless into the top of the fourth inning before the Wildcats got on the board. Villanova also finished with three runs on five hits for the second straight game, with O'Reilly tallying a pair of multi-hit games on the day.
 
It was an RBI single by junior catcher Will Reiner (Madison, Conn.) with two outs in the fourth inning which brought home the first run of the game. Senior second baseman Pat O'Neill (Eagleville, Pa.) walked with one out and junior shortstop Dylan McNary (Jefferson, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to set the table. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Reiner hit a 1-0 offering from Quakers starting pitcher Sam Bennett (0-1, 2.25 ERA) into right-center field to drive in O'Neill.
 
O'Reilly led off the fifth inning with a double to left against relief pitcher Brendan Bean and scored with one away when senior first baseman Ryan Toohers (Florham Park, N.J.) reached on an error. It was still 2-0 in the ninth inning when the Wildcats scored an insurance run which proved to be the difference in the game. O'Reilly and junior third baseman Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) led off the top of the ninth with consecutive singles, Toohers moved them up to second and third with a groundout and sophomore designated hitter Lucas Latrenta (Greenwich, Conn.) walked to load the bases ahead of O'Neill's sacrifice fly to right-center.
 
The 13 strikeouts by Kingsbury are the most by a Villanova pitcher since Pat Young had 18 strikeouts in a home start against Chicago State on March 15, 2013. Kingsbury pitched a one-hitter in a 1-0 victory over La Salle as a sophomore on March 17, 2019. That was the eighth and most recent one-hitter in school history. Kingsbury's father, Larry, started the fourth one-hitter on the list on April 16, 1992 when he combined with David Herr to hold Georgetown to one hit in a 6-2 victory.
 
Villanova's last eight-game winning streak came from March 5-17, 2009.