SCRANTON, Pa. - No. 11 Catholic completed a sweep of the Scranton Royals on Monday, earning a 12-6 victory to improve to 9-0 in Landmark Conference play. 

Dante Pozzi racked up four hits, including a homer and a double, while driving in five runs to lead the Cardinals offensively. Tucker Alch improved to 5-0 on the mound this season, allowing just one run across 6.0 innings.

Catholic scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning to start the scoring for the day as Joe Marini reached on an error and swiped second to move into scoring position with one away. Ben Nardi drew a walk to bring Mitchel Johnson up to the plate and Johnson capitalized with an RBI single to center.

Alch kept the Royals off the board for the first four frames while Hunter Ralston kept the Cardinals to just one run until the fifth frame when he allowed four more runs. 

Jesse Lacefield singled to start the inning and Derek Zelesnick followed with a single up the middle. Both runners moved up on a throwing error from Ralston on a pick-off move, but it didn't matter as Pozzi cleared the bases with a three-run shot down the left-field line. Marini ripped a double into the gap in left-center before scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lucas Malave to give Catholic a 5-0 lead. 

The Royals loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but Alch held them to just one run on an RBI ground out from Nick Reposa. 

Leading 5-1, Catholic plated five more runs in the sixth to break things open with Pozzi heavily involved again. Lacefield laced a one-out double and advanced to third on a fielder's choice before scoring on a double from Pozzi, this time going down the right-field line. Marini followed with a two-run double to center, extending the lead to 8-1. After a pitching change, Nardi smacked an RBI triple to push the lead to eight runs. Malave added his second RBI of the day with a base knock and Catholic took a 10-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth. 

Pozzi added one more RBI for good measure in the top of the seventh, scoring Matthew Fisher on an RBI single up the middle to push the lead to 10. The Royals pushed home three runs in the bottom of the seventh against Lucky Perrotto to cut the deficit to 11-4. 

Zach Burton scored the final run of the day for Catholic, drawing a walk before scoring on a bases-loaded wild pitch to extend the lead to 12-4. Skylar McLean pitched a clean eighth inning for Catholic before the Royals added two runs in the ninth against Ryan O'Keefe before he closed out a 12-6 win. 

Stats of Note

• Pozzi's five RBIs is a career-high while this marks the third four-hit game of his career and first since Catholic's 13-10 win at Shenandoah in the NCAA Regional.
• With his first career four-hit game today, Marini has 14 multi-hit games this season and is hitting .414 for 2023. 
• With two more hits today, Nardi extends his hitting streak to 26 games, spanning back to the 2022 campaign. 
• The four-way race at the top of the RBIs leaderboard for Catholic rages on. Johnson and Marini lead the way with 28 while Nardi and Malave are on their heels with 27. 
• Alch's fifth win in seven starts this season gives him 24 career victories and an all-time record of 24-5. His career ERA is down to 2.34 in 211.1 innings pitched

Catholic will return to action on Saturday with a doubleheader versus Moravian.