Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Villanova Career: Strong right-hander who has held opponents to a .236 batting average against him in 64.0 career innings … Does an effective job of keeping hitters off balance and limiting hard contact with both his fastball and secondary offerings … Has found success in a variety of bullpen roles … One of several returning arms who will be in the mix to earn a role as a key contributor on the pitching staff … Has made 46 career appearances with three starts during his Villanova career … Owns a 2-2 record with a 4.64 ERA … Has not allowed a home run while facing 304 batters … Averages 7.7 hits allowed per nine innings and opposing batters have managed just a .300 slugging percentage against him … Has 13 career relief appearances of at least two innings.
 
2018: Made 15 appearances with one start … Logged 22.0 innings and gave up 20 hits while holding opposing batters to a .238 average and a .310 slugging percentage … Was unscored on in 10 of his 15 appearances, including his first six outings of the season … Pitched to a 0.71 ERA while allowing just one run on six hits over 12 2/3 innings from the beginning of the season through April 20, a stretch of 10 games pitched … Tossed two scoreless innings with a hit allowed and a strikeout in a 14-1 win over Norfolk State on February 18 in his season debut … Appeared twice in the three-game series against Butler, working a total of 4 2/3 scoreless innings in which the Bulldogs hitters were 2-for-14 against him … His 2 2/3 innings in the series opener matched a season high for a relief outing … Also pitched 2 2/3 innings in the final home game of the season against Penn State … Made his lone start of the year on May 1 against La Salle, going the first 4 1/3 innings with two hits and an earned run allowed in an eventual 5-2 team victory … Had a season-high three strikeouts at Xavier in his final appearance of the year.
 
2017: Pitched in 21 games with one start and ranked second on the staff in appearances … Proved to be a good situational reliever, as he inherited 25 runners and stranded 17 (68.0%) … Faced 148 batters on the year and did not allow a home run, giving up just six extra base hits overall in 33 2/3 innings and holding opponents to a .248 batting average and a .297 slugging percentage … Had seven relief appearances of two innings or more … Tossed a career-high four relief innings against Penn on April 4, in which he retired 12 of 13 batters faced while allowing just one hit and striking out one … Got two outs at Penn in a 3-1 victory on April 26 to earn his first career win … His next appearance was his lone start of the season, in which he pitched into the eighth inning at Army West Point and allowed just five hits and two runs (one earned) while walking one and striking out two … Was the winning pitcher in an 8-3 victory … In a stretch of seven appearances from April 4-May 2, gave up just two earned runs on nine hits over 15 2/3 innings (1.15 ERA and 0.77 WHIP during the seven-game run) … Logged two scoreless innings at Oklahoma on February 24 and at home against Saint Joseph’s on April 11.
 
2016: Appeared in 10 games with one start as a freshman … Opposing batters were only 5-for-28 (.179) against him over 8 1/3 innings pitched … Was unscored on in six of his nine relief appearances … Pitched a scoreless inning in a win over Dartmouth on February 27 … Worked a season-high two innings at Stony Brook on March 12 … Had a run of 3 1/3 scoreless innings in four consecutive appearances from March 24 through April 29.
 
Marmion Academy: Earned four varsity letters in baseball and three in basketball … Was an all-area selection in basketball as a junior … Ranked in the top 10 in school history in games played and career points on the basketball team at the time of his graduation … Inducted into the National Honor Society.
 
Personal: Born 9/23/96 in Sugar Grove, Ill. … Older of two children of Douglas and Lynn Esp … Has a younger sister, AnnaLeah (18) … Chose to attend Villanova for the environment on campus and the school’s excellent academic reputation … Political Science major.