March 20, 2008

Box Score

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - A walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning by Tim McCann dealt Villanova (7-11, 0-2 Big East) a 3-2 loss to Seton Hall (9-10, 3-2 Big East) in the second game of a doubleheader played on Thursday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field. The Pirates took the opening game 4-0.

Cold temperatures and heavy winds favored the pitchers all day but in the bottom of the ninth inning Dan Lopez led off with a bunt single against junior Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.). After a sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, McCann lined an 0-and-1 pitch back up the middle to end the game.

Down 1-0 early in the game, the Wildcats tied the score in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by senior Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Villanova briefly led 2-1 when junior Matt McFolling (Chicago, Ill.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the eighth, but Seton Hall drew even at 2-2 in the home half of the inning when Mark Pappas tripled into the left-center field gap to score Chris Fontenelli.

Sophomore Brian Streilein (Staten Island, N.Y.) made his first career conference start and shut down the Pirates through the first 7 1/3 innings. He allowed Matt Smedberg's run-scoring double in the bottom of the second inning that opened the scoring but then retired 15 of the next 17 batters he faced and saw no further trouble until the eighth.

Streilein wound up allowing two earned runs on four hits in his third start of the season. He walked three struck out five and threw better than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. Eidell (1-3) was the victim of McCann's game-winning single and was charged with a loss for only the second time in 20 career relief outings.

Terpak, fellow senior James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.) and junior Joe Cotter (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) each had two hits for the Wildcats, who outhit Seton Hall 8-7. Villanova left 10 runners on base in the game and struggled to generate offense once runners got on base. The team went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the game and 0-for-17 on the day when including the first game of the twin bill.

McCann went 2-for-4 in the game and was the lone Pirate with more than one hit. Reliever Matt Singer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and retired five of the six batters he faced to pick up the win.

After an off day on Friday, the teams complete this weekend's three-game series with a Noon contest on Saturday.

NOTES: By winning the first two games of the weekend, Seton Hall clinched its first series win over the Wildcats since sweeping a two-game series in a doubleheader on April 17, 2003 ... The Pirates had not won a three-game series against Villanova since 2001 ... Eidell is 2-2 with six saves in 20 career relief appearances ... He has also made 19 career starts and is 4-9 in those outings.