April 22, 2006

Box Score

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - After playing for nearly two hours in steady rain and temperatures only in the mid-40's, Villanova and Seton Hall were forced to halt their game in the bottom of the fifth inning on Saturday afternoon. At the time the game was stopped, the game was tied 3-3 and the Pirates were batting with a runner on third base and one out. The game will resume on Sunday at Noon and will be followed by the day's regularly scheduled nine-inning game.

The game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m., was pushed back one hour and began under overcast skies. Rain began falling shortly after the start and fell steadily throughout play. The decision to halt the game came when the wetness of the ball and surface conditions on the field began in interfere with play.

Seton Hall opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the third inning, but the Wildcats rallied back with three runs of their own to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Freshman Joe Rosati (Havertown, Pa.) tripled to right-center field to score two runs and then crossed the plate himself on a run-scoring single by sophomore James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.).

The Pirates got a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning and then tied it in the fifth before the game was halted. Matt Walsh was hit by a pitch leading off the bottom of the fifth and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Casey Hines then dribbled a ball up the third base line that appeared to go foul before coming back into fair territory. A throw to first base went astray, and Walsh scored on a close play at the plate while Hines reached third base on the throw home. The game was stopped immediately after that play.

Junior starting pitcher Kevin Mulvey (Parlin, N.J.) allowed four hits and struck out four in 4.1 innings. Due to his pitch count and the halting of the game, he will not resume his start when the game begins again on Sunday afternoon. Mulvey will next pitch on Saturday, April 29 in a 1:00 p.m. game at West Virginia.

Neither the Wildcats nor Seton Hall have announced the pitchers that will take the mound when this game resumes tomorrow. In the regularly scheduled game that follows tomorrow, freshman Josh Eidell (Norristown, Pa.) will start for Villanova against the Pirates' Corey Young.

NOTES: Under new Big East policies this season, any suspended game will be picked up the next day exactly where it left off ... This would still have been the case if the fifth inning had been completed with one team ahead and the game had become official ... The Wildcats defeated Seton Hall 13-9 on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the series.