WASHINGTON, D.C. - The 17th-ranked Catholic baseball team scored eight unanswered runs in the eighth and ninth innings on Wednesday's Landmark Conference contest versus Moravian but ultimately fell short in a wild 12-10 affair. 

Dante Pozzi, Jesse Lacefield and Joe Marini all homered for Catholic in the comeback effort as the Cardinals totaled 16 knocks and eight extra-base hits. 

Moravian held a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth before the Cardinals pushed their first run across. Zach Burton ripped a two-out double down the line in right and scored on an RBI single from Michael Napolitano to put Catholic on the board. 

Trailing 3-1, Catholic allowed five hits and made a pair of errors en route to a six-run inning for the Greyhounds who jumped ahead by a score of 9-1 entering the bottom of the fifth. 

Mitchel Johnson laced a one-out double in the fifth before scoring on an RBI single from Pozzi through the left side of the Moravian infield to cut the deficit to seven. 

After a scoreless sixth, Moravian tallied five hits to score three more runs with an error mixed in as they took a 12-2 advantage. 

The bats came fully to life in the bottom of the eighth inning for the Cardinals as they tallied six hits to plate six runs and fight right back into the ballgame. Jesse Lacefield opened the frame with a single up the middle and Catholic had a pair of runners in scoring position after Steve Thomas ripped a double down the left-field line. Derek Zelesnick singled to left, scoring a pair and making it a 12-4 game. 

After a pitching change, Zelesnick advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved up to third on a base hit from Marini that took a wild hop off Moravian first baseman Derek Holmes' chest. As the ball bounced away, Zelesnick took off for home and a wild throwaway allowed him to score and sent Marini over to second. Johnson doubled in Marini, crushing the ball off the center field fence to cut Moravian's lead to 12-6. After Ben Nardi was retired, Pozzi blasted a two-run shot to left to bring Catholic within four. 

Brendan Martin followed a scoreless inning from Ryan O'Keefe to throw a scoreless ninth to give the Cardinals a chance in the bottom of the inning. Matt Snyder entered to pitch the bottom of the ninth for Moravian and Lacefield drilled his first pitch over the wall in left-center to trim the deficit to three runs. Snyder retired the next two batters before Marini sent a towering fly ball over the right-field fence for a solo shot to make it a 12-10 game. Johnson drilled a 1-0 pitch to center, but it was right at Moravian center fielder Matt Madigan to end the game. 

Next up, Catholic is scheduled for a non-conference doubleheader at NYU this Saturday before returning to Talbot Field for the final home game of the season on Monday versus Marymount (Va.).