WASHINGTON, D.C. — The bats came alive for the Catholic University baseball team on Sunday afternoon en route to a 12-5 victory over a solid Stockton team to conclude the inaugural Matt Kurkjian ALS Awareness Invitational Tournament.

Catholic blasted four home runs in the win, more than doubling its offensive output from the first two games of the tournament. The Cardinal failed to score a run for the first 15 innings of the season before they rallied for a 5-3 win over Western New England in the late innings of Saturday's game.

Zach Burton got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning, blasting a no-doubter to left-center field. The solo shot was the first Cardinal bomb of 2024.

Catholic continued to get to Stockton starting pitcher Alfonso Lombardi in the next frame, putting up a four spot to extend its advantage. Three-straight hits got the strong inning started after Steve Thomas overcame an 0-2 count to fire a single up the middle. Sammy Burman delivered next, allowing Thomas to go first-to-third before Michael Napolitano singled through the left side to plate Thomas.

After a Derek Zelesnick sacrifice bunt, Burman eventually scored on a Stockton error. Then, with two outs, Burton came through again, this time slapping the first pitch of his at-bat to left field for two more RBIs.

Starting pitcher Danny Fitzgerald held a shutout through the first three frames before the Ospreys began to chip away at the Cardinal lead. Stockton got two back in the fourth inning before Fitzgerald reemerged from the dugout for the fifth inning.

The Ospreys had different ideas, however, chasing Fitzgerald after a lead-off walk and a one-out double to cut the lead to 5-3. Lucky Perrotto entered the fray but Stockton continued its momentum in the inning, taking advantage of back-to-back errors to tie the game at five.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, head coach Ross Natoli elected to pinch hit for Justin McCarthy. Jesse Lacefield stepped into the box, and after battling Stockton relief pitcher Joey DiQuoll to a full count, blasted a rocket over the right-field wall to push the Cardinals back out in front.

Perrotto had a smooth seventh inning, in large part due to a successful pick-off after a lead-off walk. He got the Cardinals back in the dugout before a monster bottom half of the frame to put the game beyond doubt. 

An error and two walks put the first three runners of the inning on base, Napolitano was unable to get any runners across. However, Zelesnick would not be denied as he connected well to smash a grand slam over the left-field wall on a line. The blast was the first home run of the graduate student's collegiate career. Two batters later, Dante Pozzi got in on the act, smashing the fourth Catholic home run of the game to plate Lacefield and himself and extend the Cardinal lead to 12-5 where it would stay for the remainder of the contest.

Perrotto overcame the two defensive errors on his first two opponents faced to earn the win. The junior allowed just one unearned run in 2.2 innings of work before freshman Mac Meara made his collegiate debut on the mound, tossing 2.0 clean innings to finish the job for Catholic.

The Cardinals emerged from the tournament 2-1 after falling to No. 19 Salve Regina on Friday in the season opener. Catholic will return to action on Wednesday when it welcomes York to Talbot Field. First pitch in the midweek affair is set for 3 p.m.