Box Score Myrtle Beach, S.C. - The Catholic University of America jump to a quick 3-0 record after three days of play in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Their third win came on Tuesday, March 10 in a 7-4 victory over Mt. Aloysius.
The Cardinals debuted their third freshman-starting pitcher of the week, David Gately, who earned the win and pitched five innings. Mark Duffy stepped to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and threw four scoreless innings and four strike outs to earn the save.
In the top of the first inning with two outs and runners on first and second base CUA's Eric Scamardella hit an RBI single to center field to bring in Stefan Poggioli. John Palladino stepped in the batters box next and grounded the ball into center field to bring in Palladino. Scamardella was caught stealing to end the inning with an early 2-0 lead for the Cards.
The Mounties earned a run in the bottom of the first and attempted to gain the lead on a double to right field. Cardinal's right fielder scooped up the hit, tossed it to cut-off man Jimmy Davis who turned and made the throw to home for Mike McFarland to tag the runner in the final out of the inning.
Mt. Aloysius took a 3-2 advantage over the Cards in the second inning, but Catholic would find their opportunity to regain the lead in the fourth.
With one out on the board in the top fourth, the bottom of the Cardinal's line up rallied to regain the lead. With the Catholic bases loaded Brennan Cotter grounded a single toward the first baseman for his first Cardinal career hit and RBI (Palladino). A walk to Brett Padula brought Hinchcliff home for the go-ahead run followed by a hard grounder to left field by Poggioli to score McFarland and Cotter for a CUA 6-3 lead.
The Mounties hit home plate again in the fifth to close the gap to just two (6-4), but the Cards took the lead when Scamardella was batted in by grounder to center field from Hinchcliff in the seventh to secure the CUA 7-4 win.
The Cardinals offense made 12 total hits throughout the afternoon with six different players earning RBI's. Paggioli led the RBI category with two while Hinchcliff went three for five from the plate.
The Cardinals will see their first double header of the season Wednesday, March 11, versus Penn St. Harrisburg and Hood College, respectively, to wrap up their spring break series in South Carolina.
