Plymouth Meeting, Pa. - Two key hits from AJ Hansen and Will Reiner scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday, which were enough runs for Tyler Arella, who tied his career high with eight innings of scoreless baseball. The 4-0 victory pushes Villanova's record to 17-20-1 and 7-7 in conference play, while the St. John's Red Storm falls to 16-26-1 and 2-8-1 in BIG EAST games. 

After three scoreless innings at Villanova Ballpark, the home Wildcats took advantage of an error and two free passes to load the bases with nobody out. With the bases loaded, AJ Hansen hit a line drive down the left field line that was originally ruled a foul ball, but after a replay review, it was changed to a fair ball. The "ground rule double" scored John Whooley from second and Joey Castellanos from third. 

With runner's on second and third and no outs, Will Reiner singled through the right side of the infield to push across two more Villanova baserunners. Jack O'Reilly and Hansen would come across to score making the score 4-0 'Cats. 

Vincent Bianchi would relieve starter Brandon Backman for the Red Storm, who finished with 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, and 1 K. Bianchi would throw four plus innings of hitless baseball for the remainder of the game. 

On the bump for Villanova, Tyler Arella was dealing from the first inning, scattering four hits over eight scoreless innings pitched, with six strikeouts. 

St. John's had two innings with bases loaded, in the fifth inning with no outs and in the ninth inning with one out. In the fifth, two ground balls to Castellanos saw putouts at home, while a ground ball to Cameron Hassert at second base ended the inning. In the ninth, after allowing two base runners, Devin Rivera relieved Arella with nobody out. After striking out the first batter he faced, a walk loaded the bases but a 4-6-3 double play ended the game keeping St. John's from scoring. 

The series finale will be played on Sunday at 12 p.m., with streaming available on Flo Sports.