BEREA, Ohio — The Catholic University baseball team dropped a tight contest to Adrian in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.
It was a tight game in which both starting pitchers produced quality performances, especially early in the game. Neither team scored in the opening three frames as Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year Roman Tozzi had the ball for Catholic and Jakob Charles got the nod for Adrian.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the top of the fourth when a lead-off double got Adrian off to a good start in the frame. They followed immediately with a single to put two runners in scoring position with none away before a pop out aided Tozzi's efforts to get out of the inning. With one away, Tozzi forced a ground ball to shortstop that pushed the run across on an RBI groundout to get the scoring started.
Catholic responded immediately in the bottom of the inning when the Cardinals also led off with a Mitchel Johnson double. After back-to-back strikeouts it looked like Adrian might escape the inning unscathed but Derek Zelesnick, one of the handful of Cardinals with previous NCAA Tournament experience, came through in the clutch.
Zelesnick pushed a single through the left side of the infield to score Johnson and knot the game at one. Catholic continued the production with Matt Perlin and Steve Thomas making it back-to-back-to-back two-out singles as the Cardinals took the lead through Thomas' base knock.
The pitchers each settled back in as neither team scored again until the eighth inning. After seven stellar innings, the Bulldogs were finally able to get Tozzi to the tune of three runs, chasing him from the contest with two outs in the inning. After a lead-off single was made worse by a Catholic throwing error, Adrian played small ball to bunt the tying run to third before a single tied the game. Then after a double play aided Catholic's hopes of getting out of the inning equal, two more singles pushed two more runs across to make it 4-2.
Catholic had a golden opportunity to hit back in the bottom of the inning when Johnson again led off the inning effectively, this time drawing a walk off of relief pitcher Lincoln Lipinski. Lipinski was struggling with his command as Jesse Lacefield followed immediately with another walk before Jack Elwell did his job by laying down the perfect bunt to advance both runners into scoring position and put the game-tying run on second base.
However, Catholic failed to score as Lipinski got Zelesnick to ground out back to the mound before walking Perlin to load the bases. The Bulldogs went to their bullpen again, this time for closer Luc St. Antoine, who shut the door with a strikeout.
After Adrian added one more in the top of the ninth inning, Catholic gave it one last go in the ninth inning. Zach Burton started the rally with a lead-off single before two quick outs push the Cardinals' backs against the wall. Johnson was able to produce an infield single to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Lacefield groundout out to end the game as St. Antoine earned the four-out save.
Despite the strong outing, Tozzi gets saddled with the loss. Both Thomas and Johnson produced three hits apiece on the day with Perlin had two.
The Cardinals will now face the hosts Baldwin Wallace, who fell to Penn St.-Behrend 10-4 in the first game of the regional, tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. in an elimination game in the loser's bracket. The winner will remain alive and play again at 3:30 p.m. against the loser of the Adrian/Behrend contest.
