Offense Struggles As Baseball Team Loses to Villanova

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Villanova University pitchers Mike Loree and Kyle Carver held the No. 17 University of Alabama baseball team to six singles in a 6-1 win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Friday night.

Matt McFolling was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in the win for the Wildcats. His two-run home run highlighted the Wildcats three-run fourth inning. Dan Terpak also homered for Villanova.

Alabama (6-2) had few chances on offense against Loree and Carver in the series opener. The Crimson Tide had a pair of singles by seniors Brandon Belcher and Emeel Salem in the third inning, but stranded both runners with less than two outs.

"We were out-played in every phase of the game tonight," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "Villanova out-hit us, they out-pitched us and played better defense. We have our hands full this weekend."

Loree (2-0) held the Crimson Tide offense to one run on just four singles through six innings for his second win of the season. He walked one and added two strikeouts. Carver blanked the Crimson Tide over the final three innings for the save.

Villanova (3-1) put the leadoff man on base in four consecutive innings and parlayed that streak into a 4-0 lead after five innings.

After missing a pair of scoring chances in the second and third innings, Villanova capitalized on a leadoff single in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Derek Shunk led off the inning with a bloop single to center and moved to second base on Joe Rosati's sacrifice bunt. After Dan Trepak popped up to right field, Jim Gillin plated the first run with a ground ball single up the middle to put Villanova in front 1-0.

Villanova added three more runs in the fifth, highlighted by McFolling's two-run home run, to take a 4-0 lead. Ryan Arcadia added a sacrifice fly in the inning.

Alabama starter Tommy Hunter (2-1) lasted only five innings and allowed four earned runs and five hits in the loss. He walked one and struck out two.

Terpak greeted relief pitcher Bernard Robert with a solo home run to left on the first pitch of the sixth inning to increase Villanova's lead to 5-0.

Alabama's only run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Salem led off the inning with a single up the middle and later scored on Matthes sacrifice fly to right.

The Wildcats tacked on an insurance run in the ninth inning when Tim Poydenis drew a leadoff walk and scored on McFolling's two-out single to right field.

GAME NOTES:

*Due to weather forecast on Sunday, Alabama and Villanova will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. The two teams will play two, nine-inning games with a 30-minute break between games.

*Alabama and Villanova are meeting for the first time in baseball. The Crimson Tide owns a 20-12 record against the current 12 Big East teams. Alabama has now played seven of the 12 Big East teams. The Alabama game was Villanova's first game against an SEC team.

*Senior center fielder Emeel Salem (Mountain Brook) extended his hitting streak to four straight games with a one-out single in the third inning. Salem has also scored a run in all eight games this year.

*Villanova scored a run with two outs in the fourth inning to equal the number of runs allowed by Alabama in the first four innings through the first seven games. The Crimson Tide has outscored the opposition 36-2 during the first four inning this year.

*After missing the first seven games of the season, senior right-hander Bernard Robert (Denham Springs, La.) made his 2007 debut on Friday night against Villanova. After allowing a solo home run on his first pitch of the season, Robert worked four innings and allowed one run and three hits with five strikeouts.

*Sophomore Ryan Rhoden (Tuscaloosa) extended his hitting streak to five games with a ninth-inning single.

*Sophomore Kent Matthes (Orlando, Fla.) extended his RBI streak to eight straight games. With an 0-for-3 game, his seven-game hitting streak and seven-game RBI streak comes to an end.

*Freshman Brandon May (Marietta, Ga.) struck out as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning to end his hitting streak at four games.

--UA --

University of Alabama Athletics

Offense Struggles As Baseball Team Loses to Villanova

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