SALISBURY, Md. - Catholic baseball downed No. 4 Salisbury, 10-6, in a thriller on Wednesday afternoon to pick up a massive non-conference victory and snap an eight-game skid against the Sea Gulls. Catholic improved to 18-7 on the season while Salisbury fell to 21-6.
Wednesday win marked the first victory over a team ranked inside the top five since March 9, 2019 when the Cardinals went on the road to defeat No.3 Christopher Newport by a final score of 4-3.
Leading 1-0 in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals touched up Salisbury reliever Cole Williams for five runs in the frame to build a 6-0 lead.
Sammy Burman singled to left, putting a base runner on immediately for the Cardinals while
Derek Zelesnick and
Jesse Lacefield made it three consecutive singles to open the inning with Burman scoring to make it 2-0.
Matt Perlin laid down his second successful squeeze bunt of the game to score Zelesnick and push the lead to three.
Jack Elwell singled and
Steve Thomas was hit by a pitch to load the bases for
Zach Burton. Williams lost the handle again, hitting Burton to extend the lead to 4-0.
Mitchel Johnson continued a monster week with a two-run double to extend Catholic's lead to six heading into the bottom of the inning.
After a flawless fifth inning,
Brendan Martin returned to the mound for the sixth, but the fourth-ranked Sea Gulls were ready, responding with five runs on four hits to pull within one. Dyaln Winebrenner smashed a two-run homer to pull the Sea Gulls within four runs with nobody out in the inning. After a bunt single and an error, Martin got the first out of the inning, but Trent Waire left the yard to make it 6-5.
Lucky Perrotto entered the game in relief of Martin and finished the inning with the Cardinals on top by a run.
Each team scored in the seventh, sending the game into the eighth inning with Catholic holding a 7-6 lead. Thomas singled to score Perlin who reached on a bunt single while Ben Anderson drove in a run in the bottom of the frame for Salisbury.
Catholic added two insurance runs in the top of the eighth as Lacefield provided a two-out, two-run double to score Johnson and Zelesnick. After entering in the bottom of the seventh,
Danny Fitzgerald tossed a perfect eighth inning to send the Cardinals to the ninth with a three-run advantage.
Burton doubled in Elwell who was hit by a pitch to start the ninth inning, pushing Catholic's lead to 10-6. Freshman
Luke Cardman entered for the ninth and issued a walk to the leadoff batter, but Cardman struck out the final two batters to close out the victory.
Danny Prior got the start for Catholic, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings and striking out three while taking the no-decision. With three hits and two RBI on the day, Johnson enters the weekend with six hits and 10 RBI in two contests this week. Burton logged his 10th double of the season and surpassed 75 career RBI with two in the game.
The Cardinals will travel to Wilkes this weekend for a three-game set versus its new Landmark Conference foe.
