MERION STATION, Pa.—Senior center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) hit a three-run home run in both ends of a doubleheader and Villanova (12-2) scored four late unanswered runs in the nightcap to pull away from Saint Joseph's (5-5) in an 8-2 victory at Smithson Field on Saturday afternoon. The winning streak for the surging Wildcats is up to an even dozen, the longest streak since a school-record 16 straight wins during the 1989 season. Villanova swept a three-game series from the Hawks this weekend, winning an 8-7 contest on Thursday afternoon before sweeping Saturday's doubleheader by scores of 16-5 and 8-2.
 
The second home run this season – and of the day – by Rotondo with two outs in the second inning opened the scoring and gave the Wildcats an early 3-0 lead. Villanova added a single run in the fourth inning to go in front 4-0, but Saint Joseph's cut that margin in half with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. After the Wildcats got one back and led 5-2 at the seventh inning stretch, the Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh to lave the lead hanging in the balance.
 
Senior starting pitcher Jimmy Kingsbury (Phoenixville, Pa.) made his biggest pitch of the game and got a groundout to second to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. Villanova plated three more runs in the top of the eighth inning to put the game out of reach and continue its winning ways. Since falling in consecutive games at Radford on February 27-28 to open the 2021 campaign, the Wildcats have reeled off 12 consecutive wins against Hofstra, Delaware, Stony Brook, Penn and most recently Saint Joseph's this weekend.
 
Just as the case was in the opener on Saturday, there was plenty of Villanova traffic on the bases throughout the game.  Senior first baseman Ryan Toohers (Florham Park, N.J.) went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in, senior shortstop Pat O'Neill (Eagleville, Pa.) had an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, and junior third baseman Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) added two hits with a run scored and a run driven in. Junior catcher Will Reiner (Darien, Conn.) drew three of the team's eight walks while he, Rotondo and sophomore right fielder Jack O'Reilly (Villanova, Pa.) each scored twice.
 
Kingsbury (4-1, 3.22 ERA) allowed just four hits over seven strong innings. He walked four and struck out five before turning the game over to senior Tyler Arella (East Northport, N.Y.) who gave up just one hit while striking out four in two scoreless innings of relief. Kingsbury walked the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh inning, recovered to get the next two batters but then issued another walk which loaded the bases. He faced Hawks designated hitter Liam Bendo and went to a full count before getting Bendo to ground to second on his 31^st pitch of the inning and 101^st of the game.
 
Freshman second baseman Cameron Hassert (Longmont, Colo.) was hit by a pitch leading off the second inning and sophomore designated hitter AJ Hansen (Collegeville, Pa.) sacrificed him to second. With two outs in the inning, Reiner walked and Rotondo followed by driving a 2-0 pitch over the fence in right-center for an instant 3-0 lead. Three consecutive singles by Lorusso, Toohers and O'Neill with one out in the top of the fifth made the score 4-0.
 
Kingsbury was mostly on cruise control through the early and middle innings. He hit Brandon Drapeau leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, but Toohers started a 3-6-1 double play and then Kingsbury made a backhand stop of a ball just behind the mound and got the out to escape the inning with just eight pitches thrown. He was unable to escape troupe in the sixth inning after one-out singles by Alex Rodriguez and Bendo set the table for Saint Joseph's. Kingsbury struck out Andrew Cossetti for the second out but game one starting pitcher Luke Zimmerman skied a double to left field that fell in fair for a two-run double.
 
Villanova got back one of those runs in the seventh inning when O'Reilly led off with a walk and Toohers drove him in with a one-out double. The eighth inning saw a base-to-base three-run rally which started with consecutive walks to Reiner, Rotondo and O'Reilly. Lorusso drove in a run with an infield single, Toohers was hit by a pitch to force home a second run and O'Neill put a cap on the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center.
 
Saturday's doubleheader marked the final scheduled non-conference games for the Wildcats, who open BIG EAST play next weekend with a four-game road series at Creighton. The series opens on Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (6:30 p.m. Central) in Omaha.
 
NOTES: Villanova won a school-record 16 straight games from March 23-April 16, 1989 … The current winning streak is the longest since then, although there have been 12 winning streaks of 10 games or longer in school history … The trio of Kingsbury, Arella and junior starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo (Cranford, N.J.) have started 11 of the 12 games during the current streak and have combined to go 8-0 with a 1.77 ERA over 76 1/3 innings in those starts … Toohers is leading the offense with a .422 batting average, four doubles and a .667 slugging percentage during the streak … His double in the second game on Saturday was the 34^th of his career and moved him into a four-way tie for 20^th place in school history.