WASHINGTON - The Catholic University of America went 1-1 on the opening day of the Landmark Conference Championship Tournament. The No. 1 seeded Cardinals started off the weekend with an 8-6 victory over No. 4 Drew University followed by an 8-7 loss to No. 3 Elizabethtown College.

Sophomore Jon Mierzwa took the rubber for game one to earn his eighth win of the season. Sophomore Colin Cunningham pitched relief before senior Joseph Salzano pitched the final 1.1 innings for the seventh save of the year.

Junior Brennan Cotter got things started for the Cards in the first inning. He sent the ball down the right field line to bring home his classmate Jake Crist. Fellow junior Anthony Ferlise brought in Crist in the third inning before Cotter came home on an RBI single from sophomore Bailey Lewis.

Crist recorded an RBI of his own when he singled up the middle fourth, to score sophomore Ryan Tracy.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Wyatt Schmidt hit an RBI double to drive in Ferlise and later came home on a 2-RBI single from Paul Burmester, which also scored freshman Connor Sullivan.

Against Elizabethtown, both Ferlise and Burmester crushed 2-run home runs. Ferlise sent the ball over the fence in the fourth inning to score Cotter and Burmester send one flying in the seventh, scoring Crist.

Sophomore Jack Hennessy drove in Ferlise in the seventh. Later in the inning, Lewis hit a triple, scoring Sullivan and came home on a miscue by the Blue Jays defense.

The Cardinals will take on No. 2 Susquehanna University on day two of the championship tournament, Saturday, May 13 at 3:30 p.m.

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