Scranton, Pa. - No. 1 –seeded The Catholic University of America baseball team defeated No.4-seeded Moravian College, 5-4, in the first game of the Landmark Conference Championships Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Catholic junior Ryan Tracy went 3-of-4 at the plate and batted in one runner while coming across the plate once. Fellow junior Bailey Lewis hit 4-of-4 with two runs. Their classmate Jon Mierzwa started on the mound for the Cardinals and tossed three batters out in six innings before sophomore Jack Ropelewski enters as relief with three Ks in two innings.

Catholic was first on the scoreboard when freshman Michael Doody drove in senior Jake Crist on a single through the left side in the second inning.

The Greyhounds brought in two in the top of the fourth but the Cardinals answered with two more in the bottom of the inning to maintain the lead. Tracy cracked an RBI double in the fourth to score Lewis before Connor Cozad batted in Doody.

Moravian tied the game at three in the fifth inning and junior Anthony Ferlise scored Lewis on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to go ahead 4-3. The Greyhounds continued to battle forcing the game to its third tie in the seventh before the Cardinals prevailed in the eighth.

Tracy opened the eighth inning with a double down the left line and sophomore Cid Porter moved him to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Sophomore pinch hitter Jeff Guile stepped up to the plate and sent the ball to right field to bring in Tracy for the game-winning run.

The No. 1-seeded Cardinals are set to play the winners of game two between No. 2 Elizabethtown and No. 3 Scranton on Saturday, May 12. First pitch is slated for 2:30 p.m, at the University of Scranton.

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