After a rough weekend series against West Virginia, Villanova Baseball got back on track at the Liberty Bell Classic, winning their first round game against La Salle, 7-0.

The Wildcats were led by pitcher Ted Aust, who pitched seven scoreless innings as he led Villanova to a much needed win, improving its record to 21-14-1.The game started out as a pitching duel as both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings.

However, in the bottom of the third Explorer pitcher, Chris Hughes lost his control. After recording the first out of the inning, Hughes went on to hit both Kris Molloy and Angelo Petracca, to put them on base. Molloy and Petracca then went on to pull of the double steal, putting runners on second and third with no outs.

‘Nova’s Alan Day then came through with an RBI single and then team leading RBI-man Brian Newbold came through with another RBI by grounding out.

The next inning it was once again Molloy causing problems for Hughes, as he came through with a two RBI single, pushing the lead to 4-0. That was more than enough for ‘Nova, as Aust came through with an outstanding pitching performance, foiling La Salle hitters. Aust went seven innings striking out four, allowing three hits and only throwing 85 pitchers.

‘Nova’s bullpen came through with a clutch performance, as the both Joe McCoy and Adrian Schau followed in Aust’s footsteps, by dominating La Salle hitters. McCoy pitched a perfect eighthinning retiring the side in order and striking out one, while only throwing six pitches. Schau was just as impressive as he retired the side in order, striking out two, while throwing 15 pitches.

Last weekend, the ‘Cats struggled against the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Villanova dropped the first two games of the weekend but rebounded with a win over them on Sunday.

In the first game of the series the ‘Cats lost a tough one as they battled back to tie it at one, before giving back the run in the top of the sixth and lost it 2-1.

Nick Allen pitched five and a third strong innings only allowing two runs and five hits. However, West Virginian Zac Cline was on top of his game, going the full seven innings, allowing only one run, whiling striking out four and threw 96 pitches.

In the second game of the series the ‘Cats were out of the game by the end of the first inning, as Villanova’s Mike Loree was shelled allowing ten runs. Joe McCoy came on for long relief and allowed four runs in four and two-thirds innings. McCoy was relied on heavily as to mop up the game for the ‘Cats.

Nate Hall came on and pitched the final three innings and was very impressive giving up only two hits and no runs in his outing.

Danny Poydenis was the offensive threat for the ‘Cats as he went two for three, with a homerun and two RBIs, however, the Mountaineers blew them out 14-4.

In the final game of the series the ‘Cats bats finally awoke as they put up 12 runs, going away with a nine run victory.

Poydenis was once again the offensive threat for ‘Nova, driving in three runs while going two for four. Angelo Petracca was also a threat as he drove in two and Brian Newbold collected four hits in five bat appearances, while driving-in a run.

Kevin Mulvey was a star on the mound, going six innings while only surrounding two runs and threw a total of 117 pitches. The win improved Mulvey’s record to an even 3-3 on the season.

The ‘Cats travel New York this weekend to play St. John’s and Seton Hall. ‘Nova will stop off at St. John’s on Friday for a double header and then will travel to Seton Hall for a double header on Sunday.