PHILADELPHIA – Leading by as many as five runs on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, Villanova withstood a late comeback by Delaware that turned a five-run lead into a one-run advantage, winning the Liberty Bell Classic Championship, 6-5.

This marks the fifth outright title for Villanova (14-18-1) in tournament history and sixth overall. It is the first championship in the local tournament since 2011. In the series with Delaware, the Wildcats have now won four straight since 2019.

The Wildcats held Delaware (20-14) off the board through the first three innings before a four-run sixth put the Blue Hens within arm's reach. Villanova's defense saw a combined eight Blue Hens be left stranded in the last four innings.

There were full-counts aplenty in the contest, especially for the Villanova batters who were only sat down in order once. They faced 15 3-2 counts while Delaware stared down seven, including the final at-bat of the game between Danny Wilkinson and Jordan Hutchins. Wilkinson sent him down swinging on an eight-pitch at-bat to lock up his first save of the year.

Villanova pitchers sent 11 Blue Hens down with strikeouts and sat them down in order in three innings. Likewise, the Villanova bats faced their second-most strikeouts this season with 13, a mark it has seen four times on the year. The Wildcats left runners on in all but two innings.

Shane Solari had a two RBI night despite going 0-for-2, bringing those in on a fielding error by the Blue Hens and a bases-loaded walk. Joey Castellanos accounted for the most of Villanova's seven hits, hitting 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Chris Rotondo worked a walk to open the contest and moved to second a bit later on a wild pitch. With two outs on the board, Castellanos looped a single through the right side, scoring Rotondo to give the 'Cats an early 1-0 lead.

Both Will Reiner and AJ Hansen were walked to start the bottom of the second and shifted to scoring position on a passed ball after a Delaware pitching change. Solari put down a sacrifice bunt with one out that the pitcher was unable to field to the catcher for a play at the plate, scoring both runners to put Villanova up by three. He stole second on a strikeout and moved up on another passed ball. Pat O'Neill delivered a single through the right side, scoring Solari to make it a 4-0 advantage.

It took until the third inning for Delaware to get on the board. A lead-off double for JJ Freeman put the Blue Hens into scoring position for Joseph Carpenter. He laced a single up the middle to cut into the lead, 4-1.
Villanova walked the bases full in the bottom of the fourth for Hansen. A seven-pitch at-bat resulted in him walking Jack O'Reilly in. With two outs on the board, another bases-loaded walk, this time to Solari, brought John Whooley across for a 6-1 lead.

Devin Rivera went to the mound in the fifth, closing the book on Chic DeGaetano who went four innings in his start with one run allowed on four hits and five strikeouts.

With two outs in the sixth and runners on first and second, Gabe Dermott sent a base knock up the middle to bring in a run. With the bases loaded after a walk, John Weglarz singled to left to score two, getting Delaware within two and forcing Villanova to turn to the bullpen for Jonathan Cole. Back-to-back errors saw Villanova allow another run to cut the deficit to 6-5 and keep the bases loaded, but a groundout to second ended the threat.

Rivera's winning outing moved him to 1-2 on the year, pitching 1 2/3 innings with four runs on four hits, three earned, and a strikeout.

Cole Vanderslice entered in the top of the seventh with two on and one out. Dermott sent a single to left to load the bases, but Vanderslice got out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.

Looking to add on some insurance in the eighth, Castellanos was able to get into scoring position on a lead-off single to center and advancing on a wild pitch. He was not able to advance any further as Bryce Greenly struck out each of the next three batters.

Delaware opened the top of the ninth with a single to left from Jake Dunion before Vanderslice struck out Aidan Kane. After Joey Loynd worked a five-pitch walk, Wilkinson was called in to close the door on the Blue Hens. He struck out the first batter he faced before a passed ball and a steal of second put runners in scoring position. He did his part in closing up shop with a final strikeout of Hutchins to give Villanova the title.

The Wildcats get back on the road for a BIG EAST weekend series at UConn. First pitch for the series-opener is set for 6:05 p.m. on Friday in Storrs, Conn.