TOWSON, Md. — After heading to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons, the Catholic baseball team has been picked to win the Landmark Conference for the first time since 2018 in the Landmark Preseason Poll, it was announced today.
The Cardinals are coming off a 33-14 season, the second-most wins in a season in program history, and a 17-7 mark in conference play. Catholic forced a winner take all game in the Baldwin Wallace Regional against Adrian but fell in a back and forth contest 9-8.
Head Coach
Ross Natoli returns to the program for his 40th season at the helm in 2025. Natoli eclipsed the 800 win mark for his career last season after a 12-4 victory over Lycoming on April 27. He became the 16th active coach in D3 baseball at the time to reach 800 career wins. Natoli currently sits 13th among active coaches in career wins with 806.
An experienced group returns for the Cardinals this season both in the lineup and on the mound. The starting pitching will be led by junior
Roman Tozzi, who was picked as a d3baseball.com Preseason First Team All-American after a sophomore season where he finished with an 8-2 record, 2.45 ERA over 69.2 innings pitched and 76 strikeouts. Tozzi earned several postseason honors including being named to two different All-American teams (d3baseball.com/ABCA), Region 5 Pitcher of the Year (d3baseball.com/ABCA) and Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year. The staff also returns
Cody Bosak who was a First Team All-Region selection last season with a 1.84 ERA over 49 innings pitched. Several young pitchers are also expected to make strides this season, including freshmen
Joe Mascaro who aims to be a key fixture in the rotation.
Catholic's lineup is also filled with veteran returners, most notably graduate student
Zach Burton who slashed .381/.537/.649 last season with 19 doubles, eight home runs and 47 RBI, all of which led the team. Burton was a d3baseball.com First Team All-Region V selection and made it on the third team on the ABCA All-Region V team.
Logan Eilbacher returns after a standout freshman season where he was named Landmark Rookie of the Year. Eilbacher slashed .356/.425/.681 last season with 18 doubles, eight homers and 35 RBI. Several other fixtures from last year's lineup return as well including
Steve Thomas,
Sammy Burman,
Dante Pozzi and
Mitchel Johnson among others who contributed last season.
The Cardinals play an exciting non-conference schedule that includes multiple preseason top 25 opponents: No. 2 Salve Regina, No. 6 Johns Hopkins and No. 7 Salisbury.
Catholic came out on top of the poll with 61 points while receiving six of the eight possible first place votes. Just behind them with 57 points and one first place vote are last season's Landmark runner-ups in Elizabethtown. Last season's champion, Scranton, finished third in the poll with 50 points and two first place votes. Susquehanna and Drew rounded out the top five with 39 and 37 points respectively.
The regular season gets underway on Friday, February 21 when the Cardinals take on No. 2 Salve Regina in the Matt Kurkjian ALS Awareness Invitational. First pitch is slated for 5 pm at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.
| Team |
2024 Record |
Points (1st Place Votes) |
| 1. Catholic |
33-14 (17-7) |
61 (6) |
| 2. Elizabethtown |
33-14 (18-6) |
57 (1) |
| 3. Scranton |
30-13 (16-8) |
50 (2) |
| 4. Susquehanna |
21-22 (15-9) |
39 |
| 5. Drew |
22-18 (13-11) |
37 |
| 6. Wilkes |
22-16 (11-13) |
33 |
| 7. Moravian |
15-23 (8-16) |
22 |
| 8. Juniata |
17-23 (7-17) |
14 |
| 9. Lycoming |
9-31 (3-21) |
11 |
