VILLANOVA, Pa. – On the heels of picking up back-to-back wins, Villanova welcomes Butler to town this weekend for the first home BIG EAST series at Villanova Ballpark.
Villanova (9-15-1, 1-2) avoided the sweep in last week's BIG EAST opener by defeating Georgetown on Sunday, 5-3. The team locked up its first shutout victory of the year with a 4-0 win over Lafayette on Tuesday to continue the winning ways, moving the 'Cats to 3-1 on the home field this season.
This weekend will be the conference-opener for Butler (14-15, 0-0) who comes to Plymouth Meeting after a 5-2 loss to No. 13 Notre Dame on Tuesday. In the 21 previous meetings between the 'Cats and Bulldogs, Villanova trails 7-14 in the series that dates back to 2015. In that time, Villanova has gone 3-6 when hosting Butler. The last home win in the series was on April 10, 2016 when the 'Cats won two of three games in the series.
Projected Starters:
Friday, April 8 | 3 p.m.
Butler: Cory Bosecker (0-3)
Villanova: Cole Patten (1-4)
Saturday, April 9 | 1 p.m.
Butler: Aaron Barokas (1-2)
Villanova: Tyler Arella (1-2)
Sunday, April 10 | 12 p.m.
Butler: Nick Eaton (0-0)
Villanova: Brandon Siegenthaler (2-3)
Legging Out the Triple: Tuesday saw the seventh game this season in which a Wildcat logged a triple with two coming in each of the last two games, both bringing in at least one run. Of the seven on the ledger, five have come from the duo of
AJ Hansen and
Chris Rotondo. Hansen's three on the year co-lead the BIG EAST with Creighton's Jared Wegner, placing them in a tie for 20
th nationally. Rotondo is tied for third in the league and 95
th nationally.
A Balanced Effort: In the last eight games, the Wildcat bats have pelted double-digit hits in five games, two of those in both of the last two. All-told, 85 hits have been sent out by Villanova in that time with 59 RBI. The 'Cats have been just as efficient on the mound as of late, striking out double-digit batters in each of the last three games with just six runs allowed on 13 hits.
More on Those Ks: With a career-high 10 strikeouts on Tuesday,
Chic DeGaetano became the second Wildcat this season to strike out at least 10 batters in a single game this season.
Danny Wilkinson fanned 12 in 4 1/3 relief innings on the April 2 loss to Georgetown, marking a new season-high for the team.
Cole Patten and
Brandon Siegenthaler have both come close, each with a nine strikeout day this season. Those four lead the team in strikeouts this season, combining for 131 of the unit's 206 on the year. Patten leads them all with 42, closely followed by Wilkinson at 38. DeGaetano and Siegenthaler are at 28 and 23, respectively.
Scouting the Bulldogs: Butler entered this season projected to finish sixth in the league's preseason coaches' poll, two spots above Villanova. The Bulldogs have proven to be dangerous on the base paths, sharing the top spot for most stolen bases in the BIG EAST at 48, placing them at 35 in the nation. Travis Holds lead the group with 13 steals. He has also been the hot bat with a .319 batting average and 23 runs on 37 hits. Aaron Steinhart has slammed seven homers over the wall on the season and has 26 RBI to his name. On the mound, Butler has recorded two shutouts in the campaign to be one of two teams in the conference to do so – the other being UConn. Junior lefthanded pitcher Cory Bosecker landed a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this past week after tossing 6 1/3 shutout innings, striking out 11 batters with batters getting five hits off of him in a 1-0 win over Eastern Illinois. He holds a 5.24 ERA through seven appearances, all as a starter.
