WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic tallied 18 hits in a 15-5 victory over Stevenson on Wednesday afternoon to earn its fourth straight victory. The Cardinals will head into a weekend series with Lycoming with a 26-9 record and 799 victories for head coach Ross Natoli. 

Catholic finished with five extra-base hits in the victory starting with Sammy Burman going yard for the fourth time this season to give Catholic a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Derek Zelesnick singled up the middle to score Jesse Lacefield and Michael Napolitano to make it an early four-run advantage for the Cardinals. 

Three more runs crossed home in the second as Catholic built a 7-1 lead as Napolitano cleared the bases with a double into the left field corner. 

The Cardinals would score in every inning, but the fifth in the mercy rule shortened game as they added one each in the third and fourth to add on to what became a 9-1 lead. Burton drove in Matt Perlin with an RBI double in the bottom of the third before Zelesnick added another RBI to his total with a double down the line in left. 

In the sixth, it became an 11-1 Catholic lead with Zelesnick picking up his fourth RBI of the game and Perlin adding one to score the graduate second baseman. 

Catholic had a chance to close things out in the top of the seventh with the run rule in effect, but the Mustangs had other ideas as they plated four runs thanks to a three-run bomb from Graham Sears to trim the deficit to six runs. 

However, the Catholic bats remained hot, putting together a four-run inning with two outs to end it early. Mitchel Johnson doubled and scored on a wild pitch before the Cardinals loaded the bases and Jack Elwell picked up an RBI hit-by-pitch. Now two runs away from ending things, Perlin laced one down the line in left to score Zelesnick and Napolitano to close out the victory. 

Seven different Cardinals had multiple hits in the game led by Burton with three. The graduate first baseman raised his batting average to a team-best .377 as he recorded his 14th double of the season in the process. Zelesnick and Steve Thomas became the sixth and seventh Cardinals this year to reach 20 or more RBI for the season. Napolitano made a massive impact in just his second start back from injury with two hits and three RBI. 

While the bats were ultimately the story, the Cardinals got multiple strong pitching performances. Freshman Luke Cardman earned the win with two scoreless innings out of the bullpen while Jake Kenney and Antonio Tufano each threw scoreless innings in relief. 

The Cardinals and Warriors are scheduled for two on Saturday in D.C.