TOWSON, Md. - Coming off a 26-11 season in the encore to 2022's magical College World Series run, Catholic baseball is primed for another year of Landmark Championship contention. The Cardinals were voted second in the Landmark Conference Preseason Poll, just one point shy of league favorite Elizabethtown. 

The league is expected to be highly competitive in 2024 with four teams within 11 points of each other in the poll. Elizabethtown (5), Catholic (2), and defending champion Susquehanna (2) all received first-place votes in the poll. 

In 2023, Catholic posted a record of 13-5 in Landmark play to earn the number two seed in the tournament held at Scranton. The Cardinals fell to the host school before dropping an elimination game to top-seeded Elizabethtown on Saturday afternoon. 

All-Region players Joe Marini and Mitchel Johnson are back to lead the Catholic lineup after breakout sophomore campaigns. Marini hit a team-best .396 in 2023, tallying 19 extra-base hits, driving in 38 runs, and walking more times than he struck out. Johnson was second on the team in batting average (.373), slugging (.683), and third in on-base percentage (.453) while setting a program-record with 21 doubles. 

The entire Catholic infield is back as well with first baseman Zach Burton and second baseman Derek Zelesnick returning for fifth years. Burton hit .284 with 13 extra-base hits while Zelesnick hit .307. Shortstop Dante Pozzi returns for his junior campaign after driving in 33 runs a year ago while the tandem of Jesse Lacefield (17 starts) and Justin McCarthy (21 starts) also return with plenty of experience in the infield. 

Not many schools boast the catching depth of the Cardinals with all-conference selection Matthew Fisher joined by sophomore Michael Napolitano and veteran utility player Steve Thomas. Napolitano hit .418 in 21 games played while Thomas hit .367 in 23 contests for the Cardinals in 2023. 

Marini will lead an outfield group that will look to replace the high-level production of Ben Nardi who will play his graduate year at Maryland. 

On the mound, the Cardinals will certainly miss the All-American Tucker Alch who will play a graduate season at Rice, but Camden Mounts and Danny Fitzgerald return with plenty of experience and past success. Mounts is expected to add more to his plate after 34.2 stellar innings that saw him strike out 56 batters in 2023. Fitzgerald enters his senior season as a steadying force on the mound with nearly 100 collegiate innings on the mound. Brendan Martin returns for a fifth year in a major relief role while Cormac Terry returns as well after 22.0 innings in relief a year ago. 

Catholic opens up in nine days as Salve Regina, Western New England, and Stockton travel to Washington, D.C. for the inaugural Matt Kurkjian ALS Awareness Tournament.