BEREA, Ohio – The Catholic University baseball team won two games to keep its dream of advancing through the Berea Regional alive on Saturday, downing Baldwin Wallace then Behrend in two elimination contests.
Game 1: Catholic 9, Baldwin Wallace 7
The Cardinals' postseason run continued with a victory over Baldwin Wallace on Saturday morning to eliminate the hosts. Nine different Cardinals recorded a hit in the contest as Catholic racked up eight extra-base knocks and 15 total hits. The scoring was highlighted by Mitchel Johnson who bombed two home runs in five at-bats. Steve Thomas followed up yesterday's three-hit game with two doubles and three RBIs.
It was a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams find success in pressure situations down the stretch. Baldwin Wallace struck first as the third batter to the plate launched a two-run homer to right center. Nick Clark got a piece of Catholic starting pitcher Cody Bosak to plate Mally Kilbane who singled just before. The Yellow Jackets added another run with a walk and an RBI double in the second to push the lead to 3-0.
A strong second inning from Catholic brought the score back even. Logan Eilbacher got things started with a lead-off double and advanced to third on a Sammy Burman lineout to center. Jesse Lacefield then slapped a single to right to drive in Eilbacher. Subsequent singles from Derek Zelesnick and Jack Elwell loaded the basee before a piece of clutch two-out hitting from Thomas plated two more. Thomas got a hold of a Vince Dolcemashio pitch and laced it to right center to bring the Cardinals level at 3-3.
Catholic took a slim lead in the third when Johnson blasted a solo shot off of the Yellow Jacket starter but Baldwin Wallace responded immediately with three runs in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. Two errors aided the Yellow Jacket comeback effort.
Ross Natoli's team showed good resolve to answer quickly again. In the fifth, Johnson blasted his second long ball of the day, another solo shot, to draw the Cardinals within one. Then in the sixth, Catholic plated four to secure the lead for good. Burton drove in two of them with a double to left with Elwell and Justin McCarthy coming in to score. Eilbacher added another double to his day to score Burton before Burman joined in with a single to center allowing Burman to come home.
A scoreless seventh and eighth preceded one Yellow Jacket run in the ninth, but Brendan Martin slammed the door for Catholic to earn his third save of the season. Sam Fairhurst was brilliant in long relief on the day, earning the victory in 4.1 innings of work. The only run on his line came in the ninth when a pinch-hit single made it 9-7 and put the tying run on first base. It took Martin just one batter to get Catholic out of the jam and secure the win as he forced the first Yellow Jacket batter he faced to ground into a game-ending double play.
Game 2: Catholic 14-2 Penn State Behrend
The bats stayed hot as Catholic fended off elimination yet again in the final game of the day.
Designated as the visiting side for the neutral site contest, the Cardinals pulled out to an early lead before the Lions stepped into the batter's box. After Thomas led off the game with a walk, back-to-back outs made it seem like Behrend was on its way to getting out of the inning unscathed. After a two-out single from Eilbacher, Burman came through with a single to score Thomas. Lacefield then made it a big inning, blasting a massive three-run bomb to left center.
Starting pitcher Danny Fitzgerald took full advantage of the run support and did not allow the Lions to rally at any point. The senior only allowed one hit during his first time through the lineup, protecting Catholic's 4-0 lead until the Cardinals added to it in the top of the fourth.
Zelesnick was key to Catholic's big fourth inning. The second baseman led off the inning with a walk and used his speed to unsettle the Lion defense. He stole second base before an Elwell grounder caused issues for the Behrend defense and put runners on the corners. Thomas, Burton and Johnson all registered RBIs while Elwell scored on a wild pitch to double Catholic's lead, 8-0.
Behrend got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Fitzgerald did well to minimize potential damage after the first two batters of the inning reached on a lead-off single followed by a hit-by-pitch. Fitzgerald forced the Lions to hit into a double play but a walk put runners on the corners. The Behrend coaching staff elected to send the runner from first, and after Thomas threw down to try to nab the runner, the Lion base runner at third seized the opportunity to sprint home and score.
Catholic added three more in the next half inning as Behrend failed to help itself in any way. Back-to-back hit-by-pitches followed by another Lion error loaded the bases for Burton who was able to plate Elwell on a fielder's choice. Then Johnson continued his monster day with another two-RBI double.
The teams exchanged runs in the seventh inning to make it 12-2 before Catholic added two more runs in the top of the ninth. Fitzgerald was the star of the show, allowing just the two earned runs in 7.0 innings pitched before Ryan O'Keefe was perfect in the final 2.0 innings, allowing no hits and striking out three. Over the two games, Johnson went 5-for-10 with five hits, two home runs, five RBIs and two runs scored.
With the two wins, Catholic earns the right to face Adrian in a rematch of Friday afternoon's game. The Cardinals will have to win two over the Bulldogs to advance through the Regional with tomorrow's first game set to begin at 11 a.m.
