PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. -- The difference between the teams in yesterday's Penn-Villanova baseball game was clear from each side's first at-bat.
Leading off the top of the first, Quakers junior centerfielder Joey Boaen lined the ball to the left of shortstop and Villanova's Ryan Arcadia made a diving catch to start a scoreless first.
Then the Wildcats Kris Molloy led off the bottom of the first with a grounder to Penn freshman shortstop Jim Farrell, who threw the ball too high for freshman first baseman Tim May for the first of six Penn errors.
The Wildcats would score three runs that inning en route to an easy but ugly 15-6 win in the first round of the Liberty Bell Classic. The game was called after the top of the eighth due to darkness.
In their typical style, the light-hitting Wildcats (11-11) gave the Quakers (6-13, 2-2 Ivy) a barrage of small ball and were helped greatly by Penn's sloppy infield defense.
Farrell committed errors on Villanova's first two at-bats. After Molloy reached, Arcadia hit a potential double-play ball to senior second baseman Ken-Ichi Hino, but Farrell dropped Hino's throw and both runners were safe. Four singles later, it was 3-0.
"When we can put balls in play and put them in bunches, sometimes you see the results you saw today," Villanova coach Joe Godri said.
Villanova's win wasn't all small ball, though, as first baseman Jeremy Hunt launched a monstrous grand slam over the left field wall to give the Wildcats a 9-0 lead in the fourth inning.
That pitch to Hunt was really the only big blemish on the record of senior Sean Abate, who was making the first start of his career with the Quakers.
Abate, who normally plays first base, pitched five innings, giving up 12 runs, only four of which were earned.
"I don't care what the score is," Penn coach John Cole said. "He pitched very well. He did exactly what we needed him to do."
The worst of Abate's misfortune came in the second inning when, with runners on second and third, Hino caught Hunt's liner for the second out, but his return throw to the mound went haywire, and the two runs scored.
But for Abate, who has made relief appearances before in his career, these defensive lapses can't affect him.
"You have to block it out," Abate said of his infield's five errors in the first four innings. "He's got to make the next play and I've got to make the next pitch."
Penn finally got on the board in the sixth inning as Villanova starter Ryan Wendler gave way to Jake Wolff, and the Quakers took advantage. Junior center Josh Corn doubled in Boaen, advanced to third on the throw home and scored on catcher Jim Gillin's wild attempt to throw him out at third.
The Quakers would score three in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth, but they never threatened.
NOTES: Penn played three shortstops yesterday. In the sixth, Farrell gave way to sophomore Scott Graham, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI double. Graham moved over to second and was replaced by junior Doug Brown, normally a closer, who walked in his first plate appearance of the season.
With the win, Villanova will play Lafayette in the semifinals of the Liberty Bell Classic, while Delaware takes on La Salle in the other semi. Penn will take on Saint Joseph's in a consolation game next week.
