BALTIMORE, Md. — The Catholic baseball team entered Wednesday's game against No. 11 Kean with a chance to sweep the two game series with the Cougar. Despite getting out to an early lead, the Cardinals allowed a five run inning in the fifth to tie things up and the Cougars pushed across a late run to edge the Cardinals, 8-7, to split the series.

The Cardinals took advantage of an early opportunity to take the lead after loading the bases with just one out in the bottom of the first inning. Joe Marini pulled a single through the right side of the infield to bring in Sammy Burman and Steve Thomas and Dante Pozzi brought in Marini on a sac fly to give Catholic a 3-0 lead. 

Burman led off the bottom of the third inning with a double that was roped to left center field to put himself in scoring position. Two batters later, Logan Eilbacher delivered a single back up the middle to send Burman trotting home to tack on another run to the Cardinals lead.

The Cougars offense showed its first sign of life in the top of the fourth inning after the first three hitters in the inning reached base to load the bases with nobody out. An error brought in the first run of the game for Kean and Brett Hilsheimer drove in the second run on a base-hit to make it a 4-2 game.

The Cardinals put together another big inning in the bottom of the fourth after a wild pitch put two runners into scoring position. Matt Perlin came home after a balk to plate the first run of the inning and Burman came through with another hit to bring in Thomas. Eilbacher ripped a double down the left field line to bring in the third run of the inning, but two Cardinals were thrown out trying to advance on the throw home to put an end to the inning with a 7-2 lead.

The long ball allowed Kean to pull the game back even at seven in the top of the fifth inning as Justin Teixeira left the yard first with a two-run shot. Tyler Stone hit a three-run bomb a few batters later to bring the game back to a tie. 

After both teams' bullpen pitched two scoreless innings, the Cougars found a breakthrough in the top of the eighth to take their first lead of the game. With runners on first and third, Teixeira chopped a ground ball to second and beat the throw out to first base to bring in the runner from third and give the Cougars an 8-7 advantage. 

The Cardinals were able to get the winning run on base in the bottom of the ninth after both Marini and Mitchel Johnson drew walks to put two on with one out. Jason Basilicata induced a game ending 4-6-3 double play to close out a come from behind victory for Kean and drop the Cardinals to 6-5 on the season. 

Inside the Box Score

• Burman continued his tear over the last week with a 2-for-4 performance with a double and an RBI. Over the past four games, he has gone 11-for-19 (.579) at the plate with nine RBI and eight runs scored. 
• Basilicata pitched the final five innings in relief for the Cougars without allowing a run and striking out seven batters to earn his second win of the season.
• Over the 4.5 innings, the teams went a combined 0-for-16 with runners on base.

The Cardinals next contest will be the first Landmark Conference series of the season as they will play Moravian in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 15. The games will take place at Bob Smith Stadium in College Park, Md. and first pitch for game one is slated for 12 pm.