NEW ORLEANS – After taking the lead in the first inning, Villanova was held scoreless for the next eight innings, falling to Tule 3-1 on Friday night at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

Villanova (3-12) led Tulane (12-7) for three innings before the Green Wave brought the game even and ended up taking the outright lead in the seventh. The lone Wildcat run came on an error by the Green Wave on a fielding error. Jack O'Reilly went 3-for-4 from the plate to be the only Wildcat with a multi-hit day and tacked on a stolen base. Cole Patten pitched his second-longest outing of the season, tossing 7 1/3 inning, allowing three runs on eight hits and fanning four.

The Wildcats grabbed the lead in the opening frame thanks to a fielding error on a base knock to short from O'Reilly. The throw to first came with an evaded tag that saw the ball leave Brady Marget's glove. Chris Rotondo advanced to third before making his way across the plate to make it 1-0 by the end of the first. Tulane threated with a pair of base runners in the bottom half of the inning but they were left stranded.

Marget doubled down the right field line to open the bottom half of the fourth before later advancing to third on a wild pitch. A wild pitch to Brayden Morrow brought Marget in to even the score, 1-1.

Tulane got two players into scoring position to start the bottom of the seventh on a single and double. A sacrifice fly to left from Jared Hart sent Jackson Linn in to make it a 2-1 game with Brayden Morrow advancing to third. Trevor Minder came up right after and doubled down the left field line on the second pitch he saw, bringing Morrow in to extend Tulane's lead to 3-1.

The Wildcats made a call to the bullpen in the eighth with one on and one out as Cameron Mathes came in for Patten who tossed 7 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits while fanning four. Mathes struck out the first batter he faced before a wild pitch and a walk landed runners on the corners. He shut down the threat by sending Morrow down swinging to send the game into the ninth.

Pat O'Neill reached first on a walk to open the ninth but a groundout and back-to-back swinging strikeouts ended it.

Saturday's game between the 'Cats and Green Wave is set for a 3 p.m. ET first pitch. Fans can watch live on ESPN+.

Inside the Box Score

• Chris Rotondo extended his hit streak to 14 straight games. He was 1-for-4 on the day with the lone run.
• Cameron Mathes' relief outing saw him strikeout a pair of Tulane batters in his 2/3 innings on the mound. He struck out two of the three batters he faced.