CINCINNATI – Chris Rotondo nearly became the first Wildcat to bat for the cycle in a decade while John Whooley had a season-high three-RBI to help Villanova pick up a bounce-back win over Xavier, 7-5, at Hayden Field on Friday.

Villanova (13-17-1, 4-4 BIG EAST) had three innings where it posted a pair of runs en route to its first win at Xavier (18-18, 2-3 BIG EAST) since 2018. Rotondo and Whooley combined for a 5-for-8 day at the plate. Rotondo was just a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for 5 with a double and a home run with three runs and an RBI. Whooley was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks.

Danny Wilkinson picked up his third win of the season to move to 3-3. The junior threw 4 2/3 innings with one run given up on four hits, striking out three and walking three.

Both sides had a chance to score in the opening frame but squandered the opportunity with at least one runner left on base. Villanova struck first in the second after John Whooley worked a walk to open the frame with Will Reiner getting hit by a pitch right after. They both shifted up a base on a groundout bunt before moving yet again on a wild pitch to August Biggio with Whooley scoring from third to put Villanova on the board first. Biggio kept the line going with a fielder's choice he reached on as Xavier's first basemen Luke Franzoni made a throw to the plate that Reiner beat out to push the lead to 2-0.

The 'Cats tacked on another two-run inning in the third that saw four of the first five batters connect on pitches. Chris Rotondo started with a double to right and moved to third on a groundout bunt. Jack O'Reilly lined a base knock to left to bring Rotondo home for a three-run lead with O'Reilly advancing on a Joey Castellanos single to left to push his hitting and reached base streaks to 16. Whooley kept the base hits going with a shot to left that scored O'Reilly and moved Castellanos to second. Villanova loaded the bases but left them that way to end its half of the inning.
Xavier turned it into a new contest in the bottom of the third, erasing the lead.

After Jared Cushing made it to second with a frame-opening error by AJ Hansen, Jerry Huntzinger homered to left to cut the lead in half, 4-2. Andrew Walker looped an RBI single to center with runners on the corners, bringing Jack Housinger in from third and pushing Tyler DeMartino to third. A sacrifice fly to right by Garrett Schultz tied the game, 4-4, with DeMartino scoring.

That even score did not last long as Rotondo sent a no-doubter to left to push the 'Cats back ahead, 5-4, his eighth round-tripper of the season.

The end of the line for Tyler Arella came in the bottom of the fifth with one on and one out as Wilkinson entered. Arella went 4 1/3 innings with four runs, two earned, on five hits with three walks and a strikeout, tossing three scoreless innings in that time. Wilkinson got out of the inning with a fly out and Reiner catching Franzoni trying to steal second with his 12 caught stealing of the season and 28^th of his career. He is now tied for 10^th on the program's single season list while sitting seventh on the career list.

Rotondo reached on a throwing error at short by Housinger to open the sixth and made it to second on a single through the left side by O'Reilly. Castellanos grounded out to move the runners into scoring position for Whooley. He singled to right to drive in both runners, pushing the lead out to 7-4.

Xavier got a run back in the bottom half of the sixth after being held scoreless for two innings as Holtz sent a fly ball out to left to score Walker, cutting the Villanova lead down to two, 7-5. The Musketeers put two runners on in both the seventh and eighth innings, but the Villanova defense left them stranded each time.

The three-game set wraps up on Saturday with a rubber match at 11:30 a.m. Brandon Siegenthaler will start in that contest for the 'Cats.