WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University baseball team opened the month of April with a win on Saturday, defeating Landmark Conference rivals Juniata, 11-7, at Talbot Field.

With the win, the Cardinals (17-6, 4-0 LC) remain undefeated in conference play and have now won 15 of their last 17 games.

Senior Peter Giombetti had another big day in the batter's box, blasting his team-high 10th home run of the season in the second inning. He is now just one shy of tying Catholic's single-season home run record of 11 (Brennan Cotter, 2018).

Junior Tucker Alch started his seventh game of the season on the mound, and was forced to work out a jam immediately. Juniata's first two batters reached base via a single and a walk before Jake Swank was able to push them into scoring position with a successful sacrifice bunt. Alch then struck out the Eagle's clean-up hitter and secured a groundout to get out of the inning unscathed.

Alch put together back-to-back three-up, three-down innings that book-ended Giombetti's solo shot in the second, helping Catholic to a 1-0 lead after three. 

The Eagles (6-12, 1-5 LC) were able to get to Alch in the fourth. Swank reached as the lead-off man after being hit by a pitch and eventually scored to tie the game on an RBI single by Dakotah Snyder. Then, after Juniata loaded the bases, the Eagles were able to push across two more runs, via a throwing error and an RBI groundout, to take their first lead of the game, 3-1.

Catholic wasted no time responding. Eagle starter Chase Alessandroni, who had been solid through the first three innings, began the fourth by walking the bases loaded. Then, with no outs, senior Matt Tesoriero singled to left field, bringing two runs home to knot the game at three. Freshman Matthew Fisher followed with an RBI double to restore Catholic's lead, then  sacrifice flies from senior Tommy Antonucci and freshman Dante Pozzi extended the Cardinal's lead to 6-3.

Juniata got one back in the top of the fifth and was threatening for more, before a great by junior Derek Zelesnick got Catholic back into the dugout. He made a beautiful, back-handed stop at shortstop before gunning over to junior Zach Burton at first, who executed a textbook stretch and pick to knab the runner and end the inning. 

Junior Ben Nardi extended his hitting streak to 10 in the sixth, when he doubled down the left field line to plate Pozzi. Catholic added two more in the bottom of the seventh to push the lead to 9-4. 

After back-to-back perfect innings in the sixth and seventh, Alch came back out to work the eighth. Juniata jumped on him, swinging at two first pitches to start the inning with two singles. After a sacrifice fly cut the lead, senior Skylar McLean entered the game to relieve Alch. He got one out before a single combined with a fielding error allowed the Eagles back within two at 9-7.

Junior Brendan Martin then entered and got the next Juniata batter to pop out on his first pitch to get out of the jam. 

Catholic bumped the lead back to four in the bottom half of the inning when Giombetti tripled to right field to score Nardi. Giombetti then scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 11-7.

Martin returned for the bottom of the ninth to get the final three outs, securing the victory and a four-out save for himself, his first of the season. Alch earned the victory, pushing him to 5-1 on the season. He allowed nine hits and seven runs, five earned, striking out seven in 7.1 innings of work. Alessandroni got hit with the loss, dropping him to 2-2.

Giombetti hit 2-for-4 with a home run, a triple, a walk, two RBIs and three runs scored. The senior now has a team-high 31 RBIs on the season.

Nardi also went 2-for-4, providing a double, a single, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Fisher hit 3-for-5 with two doubles, a single, two RBIs and two runs scored. 

The Cardinals will be in action again tomorrow, when they host the Eagles in a Sunday doubleheader at Talbot Field. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 11 a.m.