INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The 'Cats and the 'Dogs faced off once again for the first game of the April 15 double header. The Wildcats cruised past Butler getting at least a run in all but two innings for the 10-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at Bulldog Park.
A strong first game for the Whooley brothers with freshman second baseman
Michael Whooley and senior designated hitter
John Whooley showing some power to fuel the Wildcats offense.
M. Whooley went an impressive 4-for-6 to plate in a run and an RBI. J. Whooley crushed a two RBI triple in which he scored on a throwing error in the top of the sixth.
Graduate shortstop
Craig Larsen had a 4-for-6 performance in the first game with two runs and two RBI. Senior first baseman
Jack O'Reilly went sent a two run dinger over the left field wall in the top of the first.
Junior pitcher
Devin Rivera had strong day on the mound to start for the 'Cats tossing for a long 7.0 innings. Rivera had four strike outs and only allowed five hits and two runs in over the long stint on the rubber to earn the win on the day, his second win of the season.
An electric start to the game with
AJ Hansen making his way on with a to first off a fielding error by the third baseman and O'Reilly cranking a shot over the left field wall on the following play to score the two for the 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs answered back in the bottom of the innings with two runs of their own with a triple by Xavier Carter to score the first and Jake Defries singling through the right side to score Carter to tie things up 2-2 at the end of the first. There runs were the only ones Butler managed to get due to the force of the Villanova pitching staff and defense.
After a scoreless second and third innings, the Wildcats reclaimed the lead with Larsen singling through the left side with
Paul Cooke and O'Reilly and on to score one from second and move the other to third. J. Whooley walked to load the bases up and
Shane Solari was hit by pitch to bring O'Reilly in for the 4-2 advantage.
Josue Valdez hit a leadoff double to right center to start the top of the fifth and was brought in by Cooke who reached first on a fielding error by the first baseman for the 5-2 lead.
Larsen got the bats going with a leadoff single through the left side to kick off the sixth followed by J. Whooley smashing a triple and ultimately scoring on a throwing error by the shortstop to tack on two more runs for the Wildcats. In the top of the seventh Larsen hit an RBI double to right field to score Cooke from second to make it a 8-2 game.
In the top of the eighth, M. Whooley singles to right field and advanced to second on a Cooke fly out. Hansen hit a big double down the left line to score M. Whooley for the 9-2 result.
Villanova managed one more run in the top of the ninth off a M. Whooley RBI single to bring Larsen in from second. The Wildcats scored eight unanswered runs to win the game 10-2.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats return to action shortly for the second game of today's doubleheader to conclude the series at Butler.
