Baseball Downed by Villanova, 15-7
3/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BOX SCORE (html)
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.--The Seton Hall baseball team lost to Villanova, 15-7 on Saturday afternoon at Villanova Ballpark. The Pirates fall to 7-14 overall and 0-5 in BIG EAST play while the Wildcats improve to 11-9 overall and 3-2 in league play. Sophomore Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) led the Pirates with three hits and three runs while junior Casey Hines (West Milford, N.J.) tallied three hits and two RBI.
Seton Hall was out-hit 13-11 and each team tallied two errors.
Villanova jumped out to an early lead that they never relinquished. Scoring three runs in the first, Dan Terpak's single down the left field line drove in Ryan Arcadia and Joe Rosati. James Dolbier followed the two-RBI single with one of his own to drive in Terpak and take a 3-0 lead.
Seton Hall added one run in the top of the second on a Bobby Dombrowski (Denville, N.J.) double to right center that drove in Dan McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.). Villanova answered with two in the bottom of the second. The Wildcat's Gus Guida scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch. With just one out, Villanova loaded the bases and Joe Rosati gave the Wildcats a 5-1 lead when he walked from third to home on a bases-loaded base-on-balls to Terpak.
The Pirates cut the score to 5-3 with two unanswered runs scored by Smedberg in the third and fourth innings. In the third, Smedberg led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a John Walsh (Jersey City, N.J.) double to left field. In the fourth inning, Smedberg doubled to left center and scored on a Hines single through the right side.
Villanova scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 8-3. With one out, the Wildcats loaded the bases and Joe Cotter scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Shunk. Terpak followed the sacrifice fly with a double to right center that drove in Arcadia and Rosati.
Each team scored one run in the sixth inning. In the top of the inning, Smedberg scored his third run of the game on a Hines double to right center to cut the Villanova lead to 8-4. In the bottom of the inning, a Cotter single up the middle scored Parks for a 9-4 lead.
Villanova scored the next six runs of the game to take a 15-4 lead. The flood gates opened up in the seventh inning; scoring five runs. Shunk, James Dolbier, Jim Gillin, Robert Parks and Guida each accounted for a run. In the eighth, Terpak scored the final Villanova run on a ground-out by Dolbier.
Seton Hall kept the fight going through the ninth inning, when Chris Affinito (East Brunswick, N.J.) blasted a three-run homer to make the final score 15-7.
Villanova's Bill Hoffman (2-2) earned the win, pitching 6.0 innings and tallying 10 strikeouts. Seton Hall's Sean Black (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) (0-3) was credited with the loss.
The two teams will face off in the final game of the series on Sunday, Apr. 1. First pitch is set for Noon at Villanova Ballpark.
