MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - The Catholic University baseball team completed an undefeated spring break trip Wednesday morning with an 8-6 over Penn St. Harrisburg at the Ripken Experience. 

The Lions (6-5), who have been receiving votes in the d3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Polls earlier this season, went 33-15-1 a year ago and lost to Tufts in the NCAA Division III Super Regional.

After falling behind in the first inning, the Cardinals (10-5) rallied with seven unanswered runs, highlighted by a three-run homerun from senior Connor Cozad, for their fifth win in as many days.

Penn St. Harrisburg grabbed an early 2-0 lead with three hits in the first inning, but the Cards equalized soon after with a run in the second and third frame. A double from sophomore Peter Giombetti and triple from junior Michael Doody each drove in a run to tie the game 2-2. 

Some heads-up baserunning gave Catholic the lead in the fifth before Cozad's momentum-shifting homer. Senior Christian Jones hit a towering pop fly in foul territory that was caught by Harrisburg's pitcher, but fellow senior Cid Porter noticed nobody covering the plate and sprinted home for a unique sacrifice fly. 

In the game's next at-bat, Cozad delivered a massive two-out homerun to left field that scored three runs, putting the Cardinals up 6-2. 

Senior Connor Sullivan doubled to score Tyler Shaffer in the sixth for the team's seventh unanswered run. Sullivan's 3-for-5 morning extended his hitting streak to 13 games, with nine of those being multi-hit efforts.  

The Lions scored a total of four runs in the seventh and eighth inning to make the game 7-6, but the Cards got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the eighth-inning rally. 

Catholic used a lead-off walk by Shaffer in the bottom of the eighth to score an insurance run with some small ball. Two sacrifice bunts with a Sullivan single in between scored Shaffer to put the home team up 8-6. 

Sophomore Nick Marini came through with a big performance in his first start of the season, allowing just two runs in five innings of work. The Lions, who hit 71 homeruns for the third-most in the nation last year, mustered just three hits and struck out four times to the left-hander. 

Junior Ethan Risse came in for a four-out save to earn his second of the season in 1.1 innings. He got Penn St. Harrisburg's homerun leader Brett Williams to pop out with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning. The San Diego, Calif. native added two strikeouts and a scoreless ninth inning. 

The win completes a third-straight flawless spring break trip for the Cardinals, as coach Ross Natoli's squad went 4-0 last year and 5-0 in 2018 at the Ripken Experience. 

Catholic opens up Landmark Conference play this Saturday, March 14 with a three-game series against Elizabethtown. First pitch of Saturday's doubleheader at Robert J. Talbot Field is set for 12:30, followed by a third contest on Sunday at noon.