VILLANOVA, Pa. – The final series of the regular season has arrived for Villanova as Creighton comes to town for a three-game BIG EAST set that opens on Thursday at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.

Both the Thursday and Friday contests will start at 3 p.m. while Saturday's Senior Day game is set to begin at 11 a.m.

Villanova (19-27-1, 8-10) is looking to solidify a spot in the BIG EAST Championship for the first time since 2008, currently sitting tied for fourth in the league standings with Georgetown. The top four teams make it into the field for the four-day, double-elimination championship co-hosted by Xavier University at Prasco Park in nearby Mason, Ohio that starts on May 26. UConn and Creighton (28-16, 13-5) already locked in their spots as the top two teams in the field this past weekend as No. 1 and 2, respectively. Villanova's current spot has it in a tight race for those final two sports with Xavier currently third at 10-8 in league action. Right behind the Wildcats and Hoyas is St. John's with a 7-9-1 record heading into the final weekend and Seton Hall trailing at 6-11.

Last weekend brought back-to-back losses in conference action for the Wildcats, falling in the last two games at Seton Hall. They have won two league series this season, taking two from Butler and St. John's. They have been able to avoid sweeps in their four other conference tilts.

The Wildcats have faced the Bluejays 22 times since 1984, trailing the series 1-21. That lone win came back on April 17, 2014 at Plymouth in the first contest where the two sides battled as BIG EAST foes. Since then, Villanova has dropped 21 straight contests to the Bluejays with eight of those losses coming at home.

Projected Starters
Thursday, May 19 | 3 p.m.
Villanova: Tyler Arella (5-2)
Creighton: Dylan Tebrake (7-2)

Friday, May 20 | 3 p.m.
Villanova: Cole Patten (3-7)
Creighton: Dominic Cancellieri (5-2)

Saturday, May 21 | 11 a.m.
Villanova: Jonathan Cole (0-3)
Creighton: Cade Lommel (1-4)

Do It For the Seniors: Sunday's game will start with a pregame ceremony to honor 10 seniors in the program, including Director of Operations Jimmy Franchetti, Tyler Arella, Joey Castellanos, Jonathan Cole, Cameron Mathes, Pat O'Neill, Matt Pinone, Will Reiner, Theron Schilling and Chris Rotondo.

Castellanos Cranks Out the Hits: After a 3-for-5 outing Tuesday in the win over Fordham, Castellanos now leads the team with 17 multi-hit games this season. He has recorded at least three hits in nine games of this campaign, doing so twice in the last five games.

Reaching: Rotondo matched his season-high for reaching base in consecutive games of 22 on Tuesday thanks to a lead-off single. In that stretch, he has reached on a hit in 21 of those games with a .365 batting average and a .486 on base percentage. He has scattered 31 hits and has scored 29 runs, driving in 14 runs with 14 walks drawn.

Shutouts and Saves: Villanova has recorded three shutout wins this season with five pitchers going down for combined efforts in those performances. Arella, Patrick Montfort and Cade Udell have all had one combined shutout. Chic DeGaetano has recorded two to tie for the fourth-most in the single season while Arella has been in three, sharing the top spot for the most in a single campaign. From a career standpoint, Arella joins the top three of pitchers who have recorded shutouts with those three coming in 208 2/3 innings pitched. He joins Devin Rivera in the top three who has tossed three and is tied for fourth with 15 saves.

Scouting the Bluejays: Creighton bring s three-game winning streak to the friendly confines of Plymouth Meeting this weekend after sweeping Butler last weekend in the Bluejays' home finale. Those wins snapped a five-game losing skid for the crew who dropped a pair of games to Omaha and Xavier while also getting swept by UConn. As a whole, Creighton is batting .269 on the year, led by a .406 clip from Alan Roden that places him at 12^th in the nation. He ranks among the top in the country for several stats, including seventh with 22 doubles and a .514 on base percentage while being the second-toughest to strike out with a 24.3 clip, leading the league in each. Jared Wegner has hit 11 of the team's 33 home runs, driving in a team-high 50 runs. On the mound, Tommy Steier holds the best ERA in the BIG EAST at 1.75, landing him at 11^th overall. Dylan Tebrake is right behind him with a 2.62 ERA, starting in the most games among BIG EAST pitchers and second nationally with 15. He has struck out the second-most batters in the league at 99, accounting for most of the team's 370 strikeouts.