PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.—On a blustery day with gale-force winds throughout much of the game, the calming presence in the eye of the storm was the steady pitching of junior right-hander Gordon Graceffo (Cranford, N.J.) who pitched a four-hitter as Villanova (14-10, 2-8 BIG EAST) defeated Xavier (16-18, 7-5 BIG EAST) in the opener of a three-game series at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Friday afternoon. There were wind gusts upwards of 50 miles per hour during the game on a day when even the infamous Ballpark at Plymouth winds were in rare form.
 
Graceffo (5-2, 1.34 ERA) struck out 10 and retired the side in order five different times in his second complete game of the season, including setting the Musketeers down in order in the first inning and the ninth inning. Aside from an unearned run which scored in the top of the third, only two other base runners reached as far as second base the entire game. Xavier had just one extra-base hit on a third inning double and Graceffo walked just one batter who was erased on a caught stealing to end the seventh inning.
 
Friday's start was the seventh time in eight outings this season that Graceffo has worked at least seven innings. He has held opposing batters to a .217 average and a .263 slugging percentage against him in 60 1/3 innings pitched, with no home runs allowed to 237 batters faced. Graceffo began the day ranked 14^th in the nation in ERA with a 1.58 mark; his ERA is now down to 1.34 which would have been sixth among qualified Division I pitchers at the start of the day. In four BIG EAST starts, Graceffo is 2-2 with a 1.52 ERA and 28 strikeouts over 29 2/3 innings. He was regularly clocked between 92-95 throughout Friday's outing and mixed in an effective slider and changeup in a variety of counts.
 
Junior second baseman Nick Lorusso (Monroe, Conn.) and junior catcher Will Reiner (Madison, Conn.) had two hits apiece for the Wildcats, who scored single runs in the bottom of the third and fifth innings to give Graceffo just enough offensive support. It was the visiting Musketeers who scored first with a run in the top of the third inning before being shut down the rest of the day. Villanova outhit Xavier by a modest 6-4 margin.
 
The top of the order was due up in the bottom of the third inning and senior center fielder Chris Rotondo (Redding, Conn.) led off with a windblown double that traveled the most circuitous of routes before dropping just to the first base side of the pitching mound. The ball looked to be a towering fly just behind shortstop before the wind whisked it away from multiple Xavier infielders who were unable to corral the adventurous pop-up. Rotondo moved to third when Lorusso reached on a fielding error and scored when sophomore third baseman Jack O'Reilly (Villanova, Pa.) grounded into a double play.
 
Reiner led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a hard single through the right side and senior right fielder Sam Margulis (Pennington, N.J.) advanced him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. A groundout by Rotondo moved Reiner up to third and Lorusso drove in the go-ahead and eventual winning run when he swung away on a 3-0 offering and singled through the left side. Musketeers starting pitcher Trevor Olson (3-3, 3.05 ERA) was charged with two earned runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three in 6 1/3 innings.
 
The weekend series continues with a 1:30 p.m. contest on Saturday afternoon when senior starting pitcher Jimmy Kingsbury (Phoenixville, Pa.) opposes Xavier lefty Nick Zwack.
 
NOTES: Reiner threw out Jack Housinger trying to steal for the final out in the seventh inning … He has nailed 28 percent of would-be base stealers on the year … Margulis had two sacrifices in three plate appearances and the Wildcats had four sacrifice bunts on the day while trying to play small ball in the low-scoring affair … It was only the second time in the last five years Villanova has had at least four sacrifices in a game … The time of the game was 2 hours, 23 minutes in the pitchers' duel.