CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Villanova traveled to Beantown to take on No. 20 Boston College (BC) in a short two-game series starting on Saturday May 13 at Harrington Village. The Wildcats took an early lead and continued to build off their momentum but their pitching began to struggle in the bottom of the ninth putting the Eagles within one run. BC had a big bottom of the eighth to steal the lead away with a three-run homer taking the win 11-9 over the Villanova.
Senior first baseman Jack O'Reilly, graduate third baseman Steve Grober and senior catcher John Whooley each had a very strong game leading the Villanova offense. O'Reilly went 3-for-4 on the day with a double, a triple, two runs scored and one RBI. Grober went 3-for-5 on the day with a double and two RBI while crossing home once. J. Whooley went 2-for-4 also with a double and two RBI while scoring three runs in favor of the 'Cats.
Senior pitcher Devin Rivera started on the mound for a shorter but effective stint tossing for 3.0 innings with one strikeout but a strong Villanova defense behind him to get the work in and keep the nationally ranked Eagles off the scoreboard.
Villanova opened with a strong start against the nationally ranked Eagles with AJ Hansen and O'Reilly both walking and J. Whooley blasting a two RBI double down the left field line. J. Whooley was brought in on the following play, but Grober who singled to right center for the RBI and a 3-0 lead. BC answered back with one run of their on a sacrifice RBI for the 3-1 result.
Neither team was able to get anything across in the second and third innings, but the Wildcats bats got hot in the top of the fourth with back-to-back triples by Hansen and O'Reilly. Craig Larsen singled up the middle to score O'Reilly for the 5-1 advantage. The 'Cats played another two after J. Whooley walked and Grober singled to center field to score Larsen. Michael Whooley hit his brother home for the 7-1 lead on an RBI single up the middle. The Eagles got two in the bottom of the inning with Nick Wang hitting an RBI triple to trim Villanova's lead to 7-2.
Nothing across in the fifth on either side. Villanova tacked on two more runs in the top of the sixth with J. Whooley taking advantage of a wild pitch to cross home and Paul Cooke hit an RBI single down the right field line to score Grober for the 9-2 score. The Eagles had a huge bottom of the inning starting with a leadoff home run by Joe Vetrano. Wang clobbered a three RBI homer to make it a 9-6 game but BC continued on their run rampage with another homer by Peter Burns to bring in two more runs for the 9-8 result.
After a scoreless seventh inning the 'Cats were unable to manage any runs in the top of the eighth. The Eagles stole the lead away from Villanova in the bottom of the inning off yet another Wang three-run bomb. The 'Cats went down in order in the top of the ninth with the Eagles running away with the 11-9 win.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats return to action for the series finale at Boston College on Sunday May 14. First pitch is set for 1 pm.
