VILLANOVA, Pa. – The third BIG EAST weekend of the season takes Villanova back on the road for a three-game series at Xavier that opens on Thursday.

Villanova (12-16-1, 3-3 BIG EAST) has won one conference series this season, taking the first two games against Butler last weekend before falling in the finale. The Wildcats have won five of their last six games by a hefty 41-25 margin.

The Wildcats are 6-14-1 on the road this season. They have only had one BIG EAST series away from the Main Line so far this season, falling in two of the three games they played at Georgetown.  

In the series that dates back to 2012, Villanova trails Xavier (17-17, 1-2 BIG EAST) 8-13 overall while going 1-8 when visiting the Musketeers. That lone win came on May 18, 2018, taking a 13-10 victory in 11 innings. The Wildcats won the last meeting on May 2, 2021 12-5 to take the rubber match.
 
Projected Starters:
Thursday, April 14 | 3 p.m.
Xavier: RHP Luke Bell
Villanova: RHP Cole Patten (2-4)
Friday, April 15 | 1 p.m.
Xavier: RHP Lane Flamm
Villanova: LHP Tyler Arella (2-2)
Saturday, April 16 | 11:30 a.m.
Xavier: TBD
Villanova: RHP Brandon Siegenthaler (2-3)
 
Chic It Out: Chic DeGaetano has started and won each of the last three Tuesday contests for the Wildcats. The junior became the third Wildcat this season to earn a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this week, joining the likes of Chris Rotondo and Cole Patten. He was also named the Division I Pitcher of the Week by the Philadelphia Baseball Review on Tuesday, April 12. In this span of wins, he has pitched a total of 19 1/3 innings with just six runs allowed on nine hits and striking out 18. His performance against Lafayette alone on April 5 saw him toss seven scoreless innings with one hit accounted for, fanning 10.

The Streak Continues: After a 2-for-3 showing at the plate in Tuesday's win over Bucknell with a run and an RBI, Joey Castellanos grew his hitting and reached base streaks to 14 games in a row. In that time, he is batting .443 and has scored 15 runs on 27 hits with 15 RBI and three home runs. On the year, he leads the team with a .345 batting average, 41 hits and seven doubles. His 1.41 hits per game this season is the fourth-best in the conference.

Got 'Em: With a pickoff of Bucknell's Tyler Dunn at first base on Tuesday, Will Reiner picked up his second pickoff of the season, moving him to six in his career. He is now third all-time among Villanova catchers for career pickoffs, moving him into a tie for ninth overall among all position players since 2000. Aside from pickoffs, he has caught players stealing a team and career-high 11 times this season, moving his career total to 27 since 2019, good enough for a share of seventh all-time in the program records.

Scouting the Musketeers: Xavier lost its first BIG EAST series of the season last weekend against Seton Hall, falling in the Friday and Sunday matchups with a 4-3 win in the Saturday game. The group heads into the weekend after a 13-4 top-to-bottom toppling of Wright State. All nine starters had at least one hit in the win with eight scoring and used eight pitchers who combined for seven strikeouts. Xavier has blasted the second-most home runs in the BIG EAST this season with 48, led by Luke Franzoni who has launched 13 in his 38 hits on the year, second-most in the league and ninth-most nationally, with a .328 batter average and 34 RBI. He has been walked more than anyone else in the BIG EAST this season with 28 base on balls. As a whole, Xavier is leads the league with 14 sacrifice flies, landing it at 80^th in the nation. The team has stolen 50 bases on 63 attempts for the second-most in the league. Tyler DeMartino holds the best batting average on the team at .352 while Jack Housinger has batted in a team-high 35 runs. IN 15 appearances on the hill this year, Jack Lynch has racked up a 5-0 record with a 2.96 ERA. Both Lynch and Luke Bell lead the group with 34 strikeouts.