PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. (May 15, 2011) – Villanova’s Tyler Reich broke a 4-4 tie with a walk-off solo home run in the 10th inning to defeat the Rutgers baseball team, 5-4, Sunday afternoon at Villanova Ballpark in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
A barrage of early scoring found the Wildcats (19-30, 6-18 BIG EAST) on top of the Scarlet Knights (18-29, 9-15 BIG EAST), 3-2, through the game’s first two innings.
RU jumped on the board first as freshman Nick Favatella (Washington Twp., N.J.) and junior Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) continued to play a part in the Scarlet Knights’ scoring in the series. Favatella singled down the third-base line and moved all the way to third on a groundout where Hopkins drove him home with a single through the right side.
Villanova’s Matt Fleishman doubled home a run in the bottom half of the first as the Wildcats countered RU’s run.
Senior Brandon Boykin’s (Teaneck, N.J.) ground ball to second base was mishandled to put the Scarlet Knight on to leadoff the second and Rutgers capitalized on the miscue to manufacture a run. With Boykin on third and one out later in the frame, Pat Sweeney (Sparta, N.J.) executed a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line as the senior raced home for RU’s second run of the contest.
The Wildcats countered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the second to surge past RU for their first lead of the contest. Michael Erb struck out to open the frame but reached base on a wild pitch on the final delivery of his at-bat. Back-to-back doubles from John Cialone and Connor Jones followed to give the Wildcats their two runs of the frame and a 3-2 lead.
Rutgers starter Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) settled down after the second double, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters he faced. He worked 5.1 innings before running into a bases-loaded jam with one out in the sixth, handing the ball over to reliever Rob Corsi (Oceanport, N.J.). Corsi got out of the jam with a strikeout and inning-ending groundout.
Villanova starter Mike Almonte worked 6.1 innings with one earned run allowed (two total) on five hits. After a scoreless eighth frame from Pat Young, Villanova went to its closer Mike Francisco to make the Wildcats’ 3-2 advantage hold up in the ninth.
The Scarlet Knights, however, got to him early and often as Boykin opened the frame with a triple to center field. A five-pitch walk issued to Michael Zavala (Randolph, N.J.) was followed by a Bill Hoermann (Toms River, N.J.) sacrifice fly to center to plate Boykin for the tying score. Another walk by Francisco put Sweeney and passed balls moved both RU runners into scoring position. Francisco issued an intentional free pass to Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) to load the bases and create a force at any base. The Wildcats then went to their bullpen for Julian Diaz and Favatella delivered a fly ball to the foul territory past third base where the ball was corralled by the shortstop, but deep enough to score Zavala for the go-ahead score.
RU held its first lead since the top of the second inning, entering the bottom of the ninth with a 4-3 advantage. Dain Hall opened the frame with a single and moved into scoring position with a walk to Marlon Calbi. The Wildcats sacrificed both runners into scoring position with a bunt, moving Hall 90 feet from home. A Steve Shrenk sacrifice fly to center field brought that tying run home to send the game to extra innings.
In the bottom of the 10th, Reich took Corsi’s 1-0 offering over the right field fence to give the Wildcats the come-from-behind victory.
Diaz (3-1) earned the win with his 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, while Corsi (4-4) took the loss with two runs on four hits and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief.
Rutgers returns to action tomorrow with a Monday contest against Monmouth at 1 p.m. at Bainton Field in the final home game of the 2011 season.
